Hogwarts Year Five
by Medico69
Summary: Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts. A new Ron Weasley, a new adventure, more fun! HP/HG, NL/SB, RW/DG
1. Chapter 1

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 1**

Ron Weasley was teased without mercy for the next few days by his brothers and sister because of a simple kiss on the cheek by Daphne Greengrass while on the platform when they arrived home from school. The teasing only took place when their mom wasn't around as she would get on to the others about it. Ron wasn't sure how he felt about the kiss from Daphne, it was nice but she was a Slytherin. The teasing only got worse when the girl called him via the floo, it helped that she wanted to talk with Ginny too. Daphne asked if she and her sister could come visit and maybe Ginny could explain about the summer school to the two of them since Ginny had already gone last summer.

Harry sent the applications to Daphne and Astoria two days after arriving back from Hogwarts and included the list of supplies they would need to purchase, if accepted, before the trip. Harry suggested that Daphne get in touch with either Susan or Hermione to get some help with the items. The list only listed the items that could be obtained locally in London, all muggle clothes and supplies. Harry had already talked to Alana at Peaks and told her about the two new students that were coming that year, it sure did help to have access to a muggle phone since the floo network was unreliable at that distance, and to save time Harry would fax the applications to Alana in addition to mailing them, that way she could get started on their paperwork quicker.

Three days after school Hermione called to ask if she could accompany Harry when he visited his other properties that summer, Harry readily agreed. Harry said he was leaving the following Monday morning about 9am and invited Hermione to breakfast that day or to come the night before and spend the night. Hermione said she would have to see what her parents said and would either show up on Sunday sometime or Monday morning in time for breakfast. Harry spent the day flying and just generally goofing off, until his aunt called and said she would like to come over and hear about his time at Hogwarts since Christmas, and Dudley wanted to come also. Harry told them that would be great but could they please to wait until the next day so he could arrange things.

Harry had not gotten up early since coming home, but today he was up at 6am and out for a five mile run and then went swimming all before breakfast. At 9am Petunia called and asked if Harry was ready for company or if he needed more time to wake up first. Harry told them he would be there in just a few minutes as he had to bring them to the Manor due to security. Harry stepped through the floo and was surprised to see a wand pointed at him by Petunia. She quickly lowered her wand and said it had been Lucy's idea to greet floo travelers with a wand until she was sure it was someone she trusted. Harry agreed but was still surprised since he didn't think she knew enough spells to defend herself. It turned out Rick and Lucy had set simple triggers so even Petunia could defend her floo connection.

Harry took a good look at Dudley and was surprised to see that he had lost weight, at least 100 pounds worth of weight. Harry took both Dursleys back to Potter Manor and they sat in the library to talk. Harry explained again about the tournament and what each of the challenges had been. When Dudley heard that dragons really existed he wanted to see one, Harry told him that wasn't a real good idea as dragons didn't really like people around them. But Harry did offer to show him some pensive memories, he just wasn't sure non-magical people could see them. It turned out Dudley could see the memories, so the first one was of the baby dragon Harry had met last year. Dudley was amazed, "That's a baby? That thing looked huge to me" was Dudley's comment.

Harry showed the two Dursleys each all of the dragons involved in the tournament and told them he had freed all four and they were now living on a reserve somewhere and happy, in fact one of them was pregnant. When Petunia heard about the second challenge she asked why was an underage person allowed to be the victim? Harry explained that the "victims" were chosen and placed without parental consent and that the person responsible had been sent to "jail". Petunia commented that if she had been one of the mothers they would have had to act quickly before she got to the person as she would have hurt them, even without magic. Harry thought that this new Aunt Petunia was a lot more likeable than the "old" Petunia.

Harry downplayed the events of the third challenge so as not to scare them too much. He did show them a memory of the Goblet of Fire and the TriWizard Cup. Then he asked how Dudley's year had been and was told that Dudley was now on the boxing team at his school and that was why he had lost so much weight, he had to get in shape plus he got tired of picking himself up from the mat when he couldn't move fast enough. Then it came out as to why Petunia really wanted to come visit.

"Harry, Lucy told me about what you did for that girl, Susan, to increase her magic. I was wondering if the same thing might help me some? I know I can take wizard's potions and such so would you be willing to try that for me?" Petunia asked hopefully.

Harry agreed but only if Lucy was there to watch over the proceedings. Lucy was called and said she would step through and talk with Petunia about the procedure and not to do anything until she was there. After Lucy arrived first Harry then Lucy explained what was needed and that it might not do anything but make Petunia feel bad or tired. Petunia said she wanted to try it anyway so she was given the potion and Harry cast the spell. There was a brief glow around Petunia and then she said she had felt something but wasn't sure what. Lucy took Petunia to the spell chamber to test her. Petunia had increased her power by a number of points, she was now at the same level as a "normal" nine year old witch. Now Dudley wanted to try it but Harry told him the potion and spell had to have something to work with at the start and Dudley didn't appear to have any magic at all above the magic of life itself.

Harry and Dudley went outside and left Lucy and Petunia to talk. Dudley wanted to go see the horses Harry had and maybe ride one of them if Harry didn't mind. Dudley jumped when an elf popped in to saddle the horses for them. The two boys rode for almost an hour before returning to the house. Both were sweaty so Harry conjured Dudley a pair of trunks and they went swimming to wash off the sweat. By now it was lunch time so the four of them sat down to a simple lunch.

During lunch Harry and Dudley were told that Petunia had just about mastered a few more spells for first year students. Harry congratulated his aunt on that feat and told her maybe she could learn more if they could find her a teacher who was willing to go slow and teach her more. Harry had little hope his aunt would ever get to OWL level but any increase would be welcome. After lunch while the two women talked some more Harry and Dudley played chess, it did take Dudley awhile to get used to the pieces moving and actually fighting each other.

Harry took them home around three so they could be there when Vernon got home and promised to see them again before leaving for summer school. Dudley couldn't believe someone would actually willingly go to summer school, until Harry explained that this way he learned more and also they paid him to help teach the younger students so it was fun and educational. Harry suggested that Dudley think about getting a summer job to earn extra money for things he wanted but didn't want to ask his dad for. Dudley said he didn't know how to do much, Harry said that was why you started work early so you had an idea of what you were able to do and maybe what you wanted to do after you finished school.

It was Sunday around 3pm when Hermione and her mom showed up, they had driven up instead of using the floo, too much soot according to Emma. It turned out that Emma had two reasons for coming, first she wanted to know more about Hermione's inheritance from Gringotts and second she wanted Harry to let her do the tanning ritual since Hermione said she didn't have the needed room. Harry asked if Hermione had told her the ritual needed to be done as nude as possible. Emma admitted Hermione hadn't told her that and questioned how Hermione had done the ritual.

Harry and Hermione explained that Hermione had worn a swimsuit the first time they did the ritual, a small two piece. Emma said she could do that but didn't have a suit with her. Harry suggested that Hermione conjure her mom a suit that would be appropriate, and maybe one for herself, and help her mom through the ritual. But to explain why the ritual was done in the first place while he made sure the room was ready. While Harry was gone Hermione explained that she had done the ritual so that she didn't have to walk on cold stone floors and sit on cold toilet seats at school since the idea of the ritual was to toughen the skin. Then Hermione explained that her mom would have to be painted with runes before the ritual. "Well since it will be just us girls just conjure a suit for me like the one you wore" was Emma's reply.

Emma was not prepared when Hermione showed her the suit, it was a thong bottoms and there wasn't much more to the top either. "And Harry saw you wearing this? Why you were almost naked. I could never be seen in this by Harry, I'm not sure I could even let your father see me in this" Emma stuttered after seeing the very small suit. Then Hermione told her that the second time she did the ritual she had been completely nude, but that was with only the girls and she had been surprised to see that two of them were shaved all over except their heads. Now all of the girls in the group were bare from the neck down, it did feel different at first but you got used to it.

Harry walked in just as Hermione told her mother about being shaved and watched as Hermione realized he had heard what she said, Hermione turned bright red and that was when Emma noticed Harry and she blushed too. Harry told them the room was ready and that he would setup the hot tub for them so it would be ready when they finished. Then Harry suggested that Emma might be more comfortable just using the "tanning bed" he and the twins had created, Emma went with the bed idea.

The next morning bright and early Harry and Hermione were up and out doing their run and then a quick swim before breakfast. Emma arrived downstairs just as the two were finishing up and she looked much darker than her usual pale complexion. Emma said she felt good and liked the results and it was so quick too. The kids bid Emma good-bye and said they would be back around supper time.

Harry and Hermione went to each of the properties and Harry checked the wards on each. None of the properties needed anything except a small boost to the wards. Harry timed it so they arrived at the property that produced fish for sale in time for lunch and they were fed well off the days catch. By the time the two arrived back at the manor it was supper time and Hermione had seen all the properties except the dragon reserve, they would see that tomorrow. It was at supper that they found out Emma had returned home and left a note saying to either call or just pop over when Hermione got ready to come home; she also thanked Harry again for the wonderful tan.

Harry and Hermione went to the dragon reserve the next day and Hermione was introduced to the dragon leader and got to talk with Charlie Weasley. Charlie was excited as he had not worked so closely with dragons before, he had found out that if he approached the dragon slowly and carefully they weren't as likely to attack, it also helped that one of the elves was always with him and knew the dragons. Harry spoke with the head elf for the reserve and made sure that a nice size shipment of dung was sent to both Peaks and Hogwarts greenhouses.

When the two got back they were hot, dirty, and tired so baths and a swim were in order. During supper Dobby popped in and said he needed Harry's help. When Crouch Sr. was found he had been arrested so now his elf was left with no family and had no place to go, Dobby had taken the elf in and she was working at Hogwarts but was unhappy. Harry asked what he could do to help and Dobby said maybe if Harry talked to Winky he could make her happy. Harry, Hermione, and Dobby went to the chamber via portkey and Dobby went to fetch the elf in question.

It turned out Winky wanted a family to work for, she liked working at Hogwarts but wanted a family. Hermione asked if Winky might want to work for the Potter family or some other family they were associated with. Winky said she would work for any family if they were good to her. Harry explained that he had freed all of his elves but they continued to work for him out of loyalty and they were all paid, just like Dobby. If Winky wanted to work for him then she was welcome but it would be as a free elf, she would wear the uniform of the Potters, or of the founders during school time, and it would appear she was owned by the Potter family. She could work on one of the farms or somewhere else during the summer but would work at Hogwarts during school to serve the girls in their group. Winky agreed to this and was accepted as a Potter elf.

Meanwhile at the Burrow there was trouble brewing, Daphne had shown up and Ron was receiving much teasing from his brothers about it, until Daphne got wind of it and told the twins that they might look nice with bald heads, "You know like Malfoy looked after he insulted me". That one sentence turned the tide, but was the cause of the problem for Ron. Ron wasn't used to having a girl stick up for him and it made him feel less of a man. When Ron started to puff up, Ginny punched him and told him to get a grip. It should make him feel good that a girl as nice as Daphne liked him, besides Daphne was spending more time with her than with him.

Daphne and Ginny decided that it was time to go shopping since Daphne had heard from Harry that she was accepted at Peaks and needed her muggle clothes. The two girls called Susan and the three of them quickly decided that they needed Hermione since she would know where to shop in the muggle world. Susan joined Daphne and Ginny at the Burrow and they called Hermione only to find out Hermione was at Harry's. None of them knew how to get in touch with Harry, but Susan said she was sure Neville did so the three went to see Neville.

Neville was surprised when an elf came in and said he had visitors downstairs, three young ladies. When Neville walked into the room the first person he saw was Susan and he smiled, then he saw the other two girls. Neville was told the reason for the visit and said he would try and get in touch with Harry as he had the address for the floo. Neville was told that Harry and Hermione were out but would return around supper time and Gustus would give him the message.

Wednesday morning Harry called Neville and was told what was up and he promised that he would have Hermione call Susan to arrange the shopping trip, but the two guys needed to get Ron fixed up too so they might as well do the group thing and make a day of it. It took almost all day to catch everyone and make plans to go shopping on Thursday, it was decided that everyone would meet at Neville's and they would leave from there, if that was okay with Neville's Gran. Augusta Longbottom said as long as they were civilized she didn't mind them meeting at the house.

At 9am on Thursday morning kids started popping out of the fireplace at Longbottom Manor. The first to arrive were Harry and Hermione, together. Next came Susan, who was slightly disappointed she wouldn't have Neville alone for a few minutes. Then Ginny and Ron showed up, followed by Daphne. The only ones missing were the twins and Luna, so Ginny called Luna and told her what was going on, soon Luna stepped out of the fireplace. The group thanked Augusta for her allowing them to meet there and asked if they could pick up anything for her while they were shopping, but she said she couldn't think of anything. The group left to go to the Leaky Caldron and from there they would get a cab to take them to a mall close by.

When the group got to the mall the girls went one way and the boys went another, but they agreed to meet at the food court for lunch. Harry and Neville told Ron that they would only get the bare minimums as the clothes were better in America and cheaper. The first thing Ron needed was a good pair of trainers, or tennis shoes, and some socks without holes. While they were getting the shoes and socks they saw a store that had a deal on jogging suits from America and found just what Ron needed. Next was jeans and tees for Ron, but nothing flashy. They met up with the girls at lunch, Ron was all set with what he needed so the guys were finished – they thought.

After lunch Hermione said she wanted Harry's opinion on a few items and asked him and the other boys to come with her and the girls, she took them to Victoria's Secrets. The boys were of course quite embarrassed at seeing all those woman's underwear just hanging there. The girls sat the three guys down and said they would right back as they wanted the guys opinion on some swimsuits. The first out was Susan in a very small two piece that made Neville's eyes pop out. Then here came Hermione in another thong and Harry just about had a heart attack. Luna came out in a one piece that had holes cut out in several places and she actually had a good figure. Then it was Ginny's turn and Ron got all excited as she was wearing something similar to what Susan had worn. Ron said it showed way too much of his sister.

Now Daphne came out in a white thong called a Wild Weasel, all three boys were staring at her. "I saw the name 'Wild Weasel' and thought of you Ron" was all Daphne said. Then all the girls came out a second time and they were all wearing the same thing, but in different colors, they were all wearing Wild Weasel swimsuits! All three boys had a problem and Harry was glad he was wearing baggy shorts, unlike Ron who was wearing new tight jeans. All the girls laughed at the obvious discomfort of the boys, then Harry heard Hermione tell Daphne that when these swimsuits got wet they were almost transparent. Luna was the only one who backed out on getting the Wild Weasel suit, she stuck with her one piece and another two-piece in bright blue. Ginny also got a one piece so her mother wouldn't know about the tiny Weasel suit.

After the girls were dressed again Susan suggested they go swimming, maybe at Harry's pool. Harry was so distracted that he agreed. They then had to go get Ron a pair of trunks as that was something they had forgotten earlier. Harry was glad the place didn't have Speedos, he couldn't stand the thought of Ron in one of those until Ron had a chance to get in better shape. The group went back to the Leaky Caldron and from there to Potter Manor where Hermione took the girls up to her room to change while Neville and Ron used one of the bathrooms to change and Harry used his bedroom.

Harry knew all the girls had bought more modest suits also and that was what he expected thinking the Wild Weasels were just for shock value, he was wrong. All the girls showed up at the pool in their Wild Weasels under cover-ups. The guys were already in the water when the girls showed up and dropped their cover-ups and dove in the pool. Hermione surfaced right in front of Harry and it didn't take him long to notice just how transparent the suit was. But it was Luna who saw Daphne get out and saw that Daphne's suit might as well not been there, the white suit was completely transparent and Ron's eyes were bulging as he stared at Daphne. Daphne's only comment was "At least I shaved first" as she ran for her cover-up, followed closely by all the girls.

When Daphne saw what Harry was wearing she told Ron he should get a pair of trunks like Harry's. But it was Luna's comment that Ginny and Daphne needed to get more sun that got everyone laughing. What nobody heard was Neville and Harry telling their girlfriends that the all over tan looked nice, and nobody knew why the two girls were smiling so big either. The girls went to change into more modest suits and return for an afternoon of fun in the water.

* * *

**A/N: Okay the summer has started, the new kids have the basics as far as clothes and stuff. Next up will be the trip and the sorting at Peaks.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 2**

Astoria Greengrass was upset, her sister had gone shopping for clothes to wear this summer to that special school and had left her at home. How was she supposed to get her clothes for the trip? What about that special wand that the supply list showed, or any of the rest of the supplies? Well when Ms. Daphne got home she would find out that leaving her sister at home had consequences, since Astoria intended to get her mother involved.

When Daphne returned home her mother and her sister were both waiting and they were very upset. Daphne explained that Astoria hadn't been invited, besides now that she knew what to buy and where to buy it the three of them could just go shopping tomorrow and make a girls day out of it, but they would need muggle money or a charge card. Daphne had no intention of either her mother or her sister seeing the new Wild Weasel swimsuit, and she might need to keep them out of that store just in case the clerks remembered her.

The next day Daphne, Astoria, and their mother went to Diagon Alley to the bank and arranged to have access to a charge card, in fact that might be a good thing to take with them to America. When Mrs. Greengrass asked how Daphne had paid for her things yesterday she was told that Hermione and Harry paid for everything and didn't even mention being paid back. The three "girls" left the Alley through the Caldron and with Daphne's help caught a cab to the mall. Both Astoria and her mother were surprised when they saw what a mall was, and all the different stores there.

The first thing they did was to look around at some of the shops, Mrs. Greengrass was amazed at what was available and the styles were much better than she found in Diagon Alley. Daphne did a good job of steering her sister and mother away from Victoria's Secrets and lead them to the shoe store she had gotten her shoes from, it didn't take Astoria long to become overwhelmed by the selections. When they left that store they each had a new pair of shoes and a pair of thong sandals, or "flip-flops" for each of them. The next stop was for jeans and tees, again all three got several sets of jeans and an assortment of tees – even Mrs. Greengrass. They picked up two sets of jogging wear for Astoria and one pair for mom. Last shop was for underwear and socks, Astoria and Mrs. Greengrass both loaded up on those and Astoria got herself a swimsuit – a modest one piece and a modest two piece.

Since neither Astoria or mom had ever had "take-out" they stopped at the food court, there wasn't as many flavors of ice cream but there were other things, like pizza, hotdogs, hamburgers, and other fast foods. All three girls were stuffed by the time they left, and had lots of bags to carry since they couldn't shrink them in front of the muggle crowd.

When they got home Daphne suggested that all the new clothes be washed before being worn, just like Hermione had suggested to her. While Astoria was going through her new clothes Daphne told her mother about Victoria's and why she hadn't mentioned it at the mall, Astoria was too young for that kind of underwear and sleep attire. When asked Daphne admitted she had gotten a few items there and told about the girls embarrassing the boys by wearing some really small swimsuits and having the guys decide which looked best of them – Mrs. Greengrass laughed and said the girls were mean, but it was funny.

Mrs. Greengrass had a few questions since it was only a week before the girls left for Peaks so Daphne called Hermione and asked her to come over and try and answer her mom's questions. The first question was how much money to send with the girls, Hermione said she just carried a charge card from Gringotts and last year in addition to supplies she spent G30 on personal stuff and treats, but if they went on a trip then the amount would be higher. Now Mrs. Greengrass wanted to know what trip; Hermione explained that sometimes they went and visited some of the sights in the US, like Disneyland or Disney World, or some other place that was interesting and fun. The next question was, did one of the parents have to go with the kids; Hermione said that Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass could sign a permission slip and Lucy, who was her magical guardian, would be able to sign for them since Lucy usually taught during the summer at Peaks. When asked about how much the supplies would cost Hermione said it depended on what courses they qualified to take, potions was the most expensive as far as supplies went. Hermione did mention that if the girls wanted to take their personal brooms that was allowed, but they had to prove to an instructor they were capable fliers to get permission and an adult would have to sign also, that was where Lucy came in again.

Daphne asked how hard it was to prove their capability on a broom, Hermione said that could be taken care of right now as she was one of the instructors, and so was Harry. Hermione then mentioned that the special wand was G11 and was guaranteed to work for the student since it was special made for each student from England. "You are one of the instructors at this school?" Mrs. Greengrass asked.

"Yes ma'am, Harry and I have spent so much time flying together we impressed the headmistress and the flying instructors. Daphne has seen Harry and I fly at Hogwarts and tell you that when Harry wants to fly he doesn't fool around. He can play two positions, Chaser or Seeker, and we spend a lot of time on brooms when we are together playing catch as we fly down the pitch weaving in and out and around each other. So Alana, the headmistress, made us assistants then last year we were promoted to full instructors for an advanced flying course" Hermione replied.

"What time do you leave and how early should the girls get there?" was the next question.

"We all just spend the night before at Harry's or Sirius' and leave from there usually after breakfast, which is after our morning run. The run isn't required but it is highly recommended as it builds our bodies and that allows us to be more powerful in our magic. A strong body builds a strong core and a strong core means better magic and strong spells. Also, Daphne needs to decide what she wants to do after she gets out of school so she can take courses that help that goal. Astoria still has a few years before she has to decide." Hermione answered.

"Hermione what is so special about this wand you mentioned?" Astoria asked.

"Well, for one it is made especially for you and isn't just pulled off the shelf pre-made like Ollivander does, and it usually has more than one core item. Also, and this is just for our group, it doesn't have the trace on it so the ministry here can't track it or the person using it. That means you can practice at home on your spells, with your parents permission of course. All of our group has a personal wand that nobody else can use except the owner, or the creator, so even if you take my wand, which is hard to do, you couldn't use it. We all carry our wands all the time, except in the bath for me, in a hidden holster on our arms" Hermione answered as she produced her wand.

"Daphne mentioned that we attack other students, is that for real?" Astoria asked and smiled evilly.

"Oh yes that is part of the defense class, you are told what spells are allowed and you must be prepared to defend yourself at all times. There are several safe areas, like the dinning area, the restrooms, and your dorm after lights out where you can't be attacked. The idea is to be aware of your surroundings at all times. By the time you get home you should be able to cast a shield at the drop a hat. I think Daphne learned that this past year while studying with us. Oh, whatever you do don't forget to wear jeans and a tee-shirt under your robes so if you get caught and find yourself upside down you don't show more than needed. I don't think Malfoy has learned that yet, he does wear the most unusual underwear now" Hermione laughingly replied.

The three girls and Mrs. Greengrass went outside and Hermione brought her broom out and told the two girls that they had to play a game of follow-the-leader with her and she would take it easy on them. She lead them all over the back yard doing twists and turns and sudden direction changes, she even had them try and hoover which neither girl did very well. After landing Hermione said they passed as that was a simple test. When Mrs. Greengrass asked what was so simple Hermione said she didn't have them try to pull out 2 feet above the ground from a full power dive or ask them to reverse direction at full speed or any of the other seeker moves that the advance course taught. Hermione admitted she still was about to try the power dive herself, and smiled.

Before Hermione left they agreed that Hermione would pick the girls up on Saturday and take them to the house, as she still didn't know where they were staying that night. When Harry heard what she had the girls do he laughed and said that it was more than required. Hermione just laughed and said but it was fun and the girls did well on their brooms, even Astoria. Then Hermione admitted that she had been bad and had flipped Astoria upside down just to demonstrate what to expect. The funny thing was Daphne had tried to do that to Hermione and ended upside down herself as Hermione just stood there and laughed, along with Mrs. Greengrass.

It was 2pm on Saturday when Hermione came to the Greengrass' home to collect the girls. She told Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass that they would be staying at Harry's so it would be easier to do their run in the morning and that the flight left at 11am on Sunday if the parents wanted to come say good-bye at the airport. Hermione asked if they had everything then took the two girls by the arm and apparated away, much to the surprise of the Greengrass adults, and the kids. The threesome arrived at the gate to Potter Manor and both girls were surprised at that. Hermione told them to carry their bags until inside the gate then she would shrink them to make it easier.

Harry had been a little lazy in that he just gave the Weasley twins a portkey to bring all the Weasleys to the Manor, Neville, Susan, and Luna had the password for the floo so they arrived that way. Once everyone was present and accounted for Harry asked if they wanted to have a five on five Quidditch match, or if they just wanted to chill out. The group was soon playing Quidditch on Harry's pitch until supper. Supper was BBQ and the Greengrass girls didn't know what to make of the food, or when to stop eating. It was during supper that Daphne handed Lucy the permission slip and said her mother had asked that Lucy fill in her name and sign for them. Lucy took the form to the Greengrass house, so they could fill in the name in the same hand and ink, and returned to finish her supper.

Astoria, call me Tori, and Ron didn't want to get up the next morning for the run, but they did. Ron only lasted about a mile but Tori lasted almost two miles before falling down exhausted. Ron, Daphne, and Tori were surprised when they got back to the house since Harry and the rest just striped off their jogging suits and dove in the pool, they had their swimsuits on underneath. The three had to go change before getting in and lost time to swim as breakfast was soon ready. After a large breakfast, much to Ron's delight, the kids were told to make sure they were all packed as they would leave the manor at 10am and floo to the airport.

At 9:45am Sirius collected the wands from all the new members and told them they would be returned when they got to Peaks, Tori asked why the others didn't have to give up their wands and Sirius replied by asking if she saw any wands? That answered that question since the others all had their wands hidden in holsters. At 9:55 everyone lined up at the floo to head to the airport, Lucy lead the way.

Daphne and Tori were surprised to see their parents waiting for them, the four Greengrass hugged each other and the kids were told to behave. Mr. Greengrass shook hands with Sirius and thanked him for allowing the kids to go, Sirius explained that it was all Harry and Hermione's idea, and those two had their heads on straight. The two Greengrass girls and Ron were nervous when the plane took off but were soon quiet as the stewardess passed out snacks and drinks. It had been agreed that at least one of the more experienced members would stay awake at all times to help the new kids.

Due to a sudden storm in the north Atlantic the flight was rerouted up through Canada instead of straight into New York City and Ron got real nervous when they hit some turbulence and the plane started to shake some. The group changed planes after a three hour lay-over and headed on the second leg of their journey. Once again they were met by someone holding a sign **S. Black** and it turned out to be Milly again. She told them to follow her to the van and reminded them once aboard no magic until they got to the school.

Ron commented that this was a lot nicer ride than the Knight Bus, Harry said maybe it was because the driver could actually see where she was going and didn't drive over, or through, other cars and such. When they got to the school Milly said she had to go pick up a few more people and would see them around later and asked Harry if he would mind escorting them to Alana's office for her.

After the introductions Alana tested each of the new students, Daphne ended up calling an Earth Elemental, Ron had a strong tie to Air and a weak tie to Earth, and Tori called an Air Elemental and weak ties to Water based spells. The new kids were shown to their dorms while Alana talked with Harry, Hermione, and Neville. "Since each of you will be taking Masters level courses I'm not going to depend on you to teach much. Before the session is over you will have to teach several different levels of your Mastery course to demonstrate what you know and have learned. Neville will be seeking his Herbology and hopefully Charms Masters. Hermione is in Charms and Transfiguration I see; and Harry my problem child is going for three Masters, Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense. None of you elected to try Potions even if Harry and Hermione have the scores needed. Harry and Hermione will have to put up with me as a fellow student in Transfiguration as I too am seeking my Masters there. I want to wish each of you the best of luck this year and I might need some help myself. Neville I want to offer you a job here at Peaks as the replacement Herbology instructor, Hermione you have an offer for Charms, and Harry anything you want is open except Herbology and History. But I already know you intend to go into Law Enforcement, but all three of you should probably stay in England to help them get up to standards and I applaud you for that" Alana said.

When the others arrived back from their dorms they were told that their testing for placement would start the next morning at 8am in the new auditorium. "You folks go have some fun and make these older ones show you around so you don't get lost. Harry the MBI will be by sometime close to the end of term to talk with you about a few things and to try to get you to test their Entry Teams again" Alana concluded as she dismissed them so she could go take care of more new students.

* * *

**A/N: Okay we are back at Peaks and I foresee a very interesting session ahead. There will be more focus on the newer students than Harry, Hermione, and Neville. The girls may even wear those swimsuits again just to play with the boys minds.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 3**

Once everyone was together the new students were given the tour, after the three put their stuff away, the first question out of Ron's mouth was about food. Ron was quickly told that food wasn't an issue, how to re-expand his clothes was the first issue he should be concerned with as it was his responsibility to take care of his stuff. While the kids here at Peaks were nicer than at Hogwarts, they didn't take well to people who got lost all the time or who were late to class. "Ron while there are house elves here you are responsible for doing your own laundry and keeping your room clean. You were told that the morning run wasn't required but I'm telling you now it is required, you will not embarrass the group by being lazy. Harry may be our leader in this group but we all work as a team. The only reason we get so much freedom is because our little group has worked hard to prove ourselves, both socially and academically. Anyone from Hogwarts came apply here, but if Harry, Hermione, or myself don't stick up for them they probably won't be accepted. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Neville said with firm conviction.

Ron Weasley had never heard Neville say anything like that before, or with that much personal force. When he looked around he saw the same conviction on every face, even Daphne and Tori. Ron was beginning to regret his coming here and just knew that any of the group might kick his butt if he screwed up, especially the twins and Ginny. It was at that time that Bill Weasley walked up and asked what was going on and why all the serious faces. Fred told him they were just explaining how things worked at Peaks and how serious they all took the extra lessons to the three new people. "_In other words Ron was being a prat again"_, Bill thought as he joined them for the rest of the tour.

Even Ron was impressed when they were shown the potions classroom and lab; it was bright and clean, new equipment was seen all over the room, the shelves were stocked and each container was clearly labeled as to what was in it. But it was the computers that got his attention since he had never seen one before. Hermione commented those were new and must be in preparation for the masters level classes. Wrong, she was told; the computers were for the use of the non-magical students in a class called Chemistry.

The next stop was mostly for Daphne and Tori, this was the classroom for household magic; there were beds to be made or stripped, pots and pans to be cleaned or put away, clothes to be washed, folded, or put away. Susan told the two new girls that this was a class they might be able to test out of if they knew the basic household spells, but even if they did know them there was much to learn, even some of the boys took this class just to learn how to take care of themselves or cook.

The main thing that struck Bill and the new students was how modern the school was and that the classrooms were bright and airy, every classroom had a small library in it dedicated to that class so reference materials were always available. The next to last stop was the new auditorium as none of the kids had seen that before. The last stop was Ron's favorite place, the dinning area. No long tables here just groups of individual tables seating 4, 6, or 8 people. Ron made for the food that was out for snacks, fresh fruits and vegetables, pastries, chips, and drinks – most of which Ron had no idea as to what they were. Several of the kids grabbed a piece of fruit or some vegetables or chips and a drink, Ron grabbed several pastries, fruits, and was looking for something to drink when a boy walked up and said "Looks like you brought a pig with you Harry. Say would it okay if I joined you guys in the mornings before breakfast for your workout? I'm surprised you guys never use the weight equipment over in the Gym." as he grabbed some fruit himself. Harry told him to just show up at 5:30 each morning and to bring his cute girlfriend for Harry to look at, the guy said only if he could look at Hermione; both boys laughed and Hermione popped both boys on the arm.

After everyone but Ron was finished with their snack Harry suggested that they look at some more of the grounds and maybe get the new people tested on brooms to save time. The group went outside and looked around as Harry lead them to the flight instruction area. Daphne and Tori said they had already been tested so that left just Ron to be tested. Hermione said she would do the testing as she placed her instructor's badge on her shirt, Ron made the mistake of laughing. Hermione opened the broom storage and told Ron to choose a broom for his test and to be quick about it.

Ron didn't recognize any of the brooms there as they were all American types so he just grabbed one. Hermione had him start with getting the broom to rise from the ground to his hand, mounting and hoovering a few feet off the ground. Then she brought out her broom and told Ron to follow her and mirror her moves as Harry watched. Ron was lead through a series of twists and turns, loops, and several reversals; that was when Harry threw a ball to Hermione who told Ron to catch as she threw the ball to him, Ron missed. After they landed Hermione said Ron had passed but needed some work if he was going to even think about playing on his house team. "Nice Chaser test there Hermione, Ron should be glad it was you and not Harry. I don't think Ron is up for a Seeker test, and we all know he can't compete with the twins as a Beater." Bill said.

Harry told them that the morning workouts were done here and two laps made a mile, they usually ran 6 to 10 laps each morning and did stretches before and after their run. He would get permission for them to use the weights and get someone to show them what to do in that area sometime soon. But now it was close to supper time and they needed to get cleaned up and meet in the dinning area.

The next morning the twins had to drag Ron out of bed and down to the meeting area. The boy from the day before and a real cute girl came out very shortly after all the gang were there. Everyone did their stretches and now it was time for the run, Harry said everyone should try and do at least four laps – 2 miles – while he and Hermione did their 10 to 12 laps. Ron only made three laps before falling out on the ground only to be yelled at for not walking his cool down. Neville managed to stay up with Harry and Hermione for 4 laps, but then had to slow down to finish his total of six laps. Tori was the last to finish but she had done six laps, just at a slower speed.

After breakfast Ron, Daphne, and Tori were shown to the auditorium to start their testing for placement. Ron was surprised the first test was over potions and it was hard, he only finished around half in the time allowed. The next test was Charms, Ron got a little over halfway through that one; next Transfiguration, Ron got almost ¾ of that one done. Then History, Ron couldn't even answer the first question "When was the treaty of 1140 signed?"

Daphne finished all the tests completely except for History, there were questions she had never heard of on that test. Tori also had problems with history, and all of the other tests as they were more advanced than what she had been exposed to. The afternoon session would be practical exams in the core subjects, after the Defense exam. Ron didn't make as much of a pig of himself at lunch and said the tests were hard. When the three returned to testing after lunch they were told that Ron and Daphne would be taking age appropriate exams while Tori did her first practical in Charms.

Tori walked into the Charms classroom and found an elderly man and Hermione sitting at a desk in the front of the room. "Oh come on in Tori, this is Mr. Grant. I'm starting one of my classes early and he is my instructor. He will observe as I test you on Charms. Mr. Grant this is Astoria Greengrass, but she goes by Tori." Hermione said. Mr. Grant just smiled and welcome Tori to Peaks. "Tori, these are the spells for first through third year students, they are in that order. What I need for you to do is choose four spells from first year, tell me about them as to what they do, what the wand motions are for each one, demonstrate the wand motion, and then demonstrate the spell for each sheet. I know that there will be some that you've never seen or heard of but you should know some of them. Then I will show you one of the unknown spells and you will demonstrate what you can do to cast it" Hermione explained.

Tori picked four first year spells and explained each of them and demonstrated each of them. She did the same for the second year spells, though they were harder to do. She said she didn't even recognize any of the third year spells. Hermione pointed to a spell and told her that she should be aware of that spell as it had been cast on Draco, and Ron, so much due to their big mouths. Tori guessed that it was the "zip-it" spell and did it, only for Mr. Grant to be the one with a zipper for a mouth. Tori was told to remove the zipper and then show if she could do any of the spells on any of the lists without her wand, silently, or both. She was able to do the levitation spell wand-less and wordlessly, though it was shaky.

Hermione explained and demonstrated a second year and a third year spell for Tori then had Tori do a return demonstration. The young girl showed she was a good student and did the return demonstrations, though the third year spell was very weak. "Okay Tori, take a water and bathroom break and then go to the Transfiguration room for that practical. You will be notified of your scores later by the Headmistress once all the tests are completed" was the last instruction from Hermione as Tori left the room.

Tori walked in to find the Headmistress and Harry waiting for her, and there was an elderly lady sitting behind them knitting. "Welcome Ms. Greengrass, Harry and I will be testing you for your Transfiguration practical and this is Prof. O'Neil the Masters level instructor for Transfigurations who will be observing your testing. The way this goes is that you choose several spells from each sheet of paper, explain the spells, then preform them. Then Harry and I will demonstrate one of the others from each year for you and you do a return demonstration." was the instructions Tori received from Alana.

It was an hour later and Tori was told to take a water and restroom break and go to the auditorium to take her Defense test while the other two took their Charms and Transfiguration practicals then all three would take their practical in Defense together and they would be through for the day. Tori later commented that the defense exam was hard.

While Tori did the written exam, Daphne and Ron did their practicals in Charms and Transfigurations. Both were surprised to see Harry and Hermione as the examiners. Hermione didn't take it easy on either student and treated them both just as she would treat a regular student, even Ron who was a bit of a wise-ass to her. Harry on the other hand seemed to take the tests very seriously and when Ron popped off to him showed that he could handle a challenge and dealt with Ron sternly.

Now it was time to do the practical exam for Defense. Once again Harry was the examiner, but had a new person watching the testing. Harry didn't let the trio choose the spells, he chose them and they weren't the easiest ones either. Daphne and Ron both did fairly well casting a Patronus, but the surprise was when Tori tried and it was almost corporal in form and she had not been taught that spell before. Tori was asked to sit after a while as they got into later spells for third and fourth year students. Harry was disappointed in Ron's performance of third year spells and that Ron was unable to defend himself from simple hexes and jinxes.

That night at supper all three students were complaining about the difficulty of the exams and how they had had their own friends test them. That was when Hermione explained that both she and Harry were going for their Masters in those subjects and today was just an evaluation by the Masters level instructors. "You should see what they made us do while you were taking the first two written exams. Prof. O'Neil may seem like a nice little old lady but she is a real strict instructor, much like Prof. McGonagall. Tomorrow will be a little easier for you three since it shouldn't have any wand work involved, but we have to test some more students and prepare for the start of term on Sunday.

Daphne, Tori, and Ron weren't that surprised to see Neville as the one testing them for Herbology, the surprise was that it was Harry who conducted the Potions practical for Tori. "While I am not taking my Masters in potions I plan on going into Law Enforcement so I'm required to know at least fourth year potions in and out. So I get to test you Tori." Harry explained.

It was Thursday morning and the kids had just finished breakfast when Sirius, Lucy, and Bill walked in to escort the "kids" to get their supplies. But first Tori and Ron had to choose, or be chosen by, wand components. Both students should be easy as they were similar in affiliation with the elementals, the difference was their secondary cores. It was decided that Ron would buy his wand while Tori would have a Potter wand due to showing she could use a three core wand and Ron only needed a single core wand.

While Harry worked on Tori's wand the rest of the group went to pick up supplies with Hermione to get the supplies for Harry. Of the group only Harry, Hermione, and Neville didn't need potion supplies so that was the first stop. Ron had grown used to using hand me down supplies so he was very surprised when he had to buy his equipment new and saw the price tags, these things cost a fortune.

The next shop was for books, of course Hermione loved this place and it seemed that the staff remembered Hermione's love of books. Hermione picked up two copies of the books for Charms and Transfiguration, when the staff asked she told them Harry had to stay and do some things so she needed to get his books for him. The book store said they would send Harry's books to him so Hermione wouldn't have to carry all the extra around all day. Ron was embarrassed as he had to pick up remedial books in addition to the regular books assigned. What didn't register was that Daphne and Tori had to do the same thing.

Getting robes was about the same as Diagon Alley, you went in, they measured you, you came back later and picked them up. When they went into the wand shop Hermione was greeted warmly and asked why Harry wasn't making the wands. Hermione explained that Harry was so involved with his new duties he didn't have the time and tough maybe Grimstead could find out why Ron only needed a single core wand. Grimstead asked to examine all of the wands Harry had made and could find nothing wrong with them and told Hermione to tell Harry he had done good. Ron was asked to stand still as Grimstead walked slowly around him and cast a few spells where Ollivander just measured everything. Grimstead was surprised to find that Ron still had his core bound, and the binding was strange. It wasn't what he usually found, who ever had put this binding in place was a very powerful wizard.

Grimstead asked Ron a few questions such as what elemental Ron was close to and was told Air and slightly Earth. Grimstead asked Ron to wait a second as he conferred with Lucy. "Ms. Lucy, has anyone examined this young man? His core is bound tightly and in a most unusual manner. Also, he has an intestinal parasite that I see frequently in non-magical people, especially kids." Grimstead told Lucy and then Bill.

Lucy said as far as she knew nobody had examined Ron, and Bill said that his parents didn't bind any of the kids, at least not for more than a week at a time when the twins acted up at a young age. Grimstead offered to attempt to remove the bindings but said Lucy would have to take care of the parasite, and she agreed to see about that as soon as they got back to school. "Young man, if you will come with me I believe I may be able to help you acquire a proper wand" Grimstead told Ron as he lead him to a room in the back of the shop.

It took a while but Grimstead was able to unbind Ron's core and there was a severe backlash that shook the shop and scared Ron. Grimstead asked Ron if he had ever had any training in the mind arts and Ron said no, so Ron's mind was invaded and it was soon evident that someone had been controlling the young man for years. There were areas of Ron's mind that were blank when they should have contained memories, there were memories that were very false but very well done. When the two returned Grimstead said he couldn't make Ron a wand until his core settled some and that maybe now Harry could do it in another week or so. Grimstead did tell Bill what he had found and what had been done. Ron was disappointed that he didn't get a new wand.

Before they left the shop Grimstead did a quick exam of all the kids and found traces of tampering in Ginny. Tampering that had not been effective, like an ineffective binding attempt on her core that was easily removed. He also found traces of attempted mental blocks that had been bypassed mostly and removed those also. Grimstead suggested that the school might want to start screening the British students closely for evidence of tampering.

The rest of the day went very well, but Hermione did notice a few changes in Ron. For one Ron was not as obsessed with food and had quit complaining as much. When they got back to Peaks Lucy pulled Bill and Ron to the hospital and did several tests and found that Ron did indeed have a parasite in his intestines, a Tapeworm. This was very unusual for a magical person as their bodies usually purged those things as soon as they were detected. Lucy gave Ron a foul tasting potion and told him to take a dose a day for the next week, "and don't get far from a restroom or you will be sorry." Ron soon found out Lucy wasn't kidding about staying close to the restroom, his bumm was sore by the end of the day from all the time spent on the toilet.

Everyone noticed that Ron's appetite decreased and he didn't seem as moody as he had been. It was a little embarrassing when Ron had to run out of the dinning area at the welcome feast several times. When classes started Ron had to sit in the back of the class close to the door, but his instructors had been told that this was a temporary medical problem that was being treated. Ron was even allowed to skip the morning workouts due to his condition.

It had been a week and now Ron was finished with his potion regiment but Lucy had told him that it would take another two or three days for the potions to work out of his system. Daphne was the only one of the group that had the same classes as Ron and she noticed a difference in him. He was more attentive in class, he seemed more confident, and his spell work was much better. But Ron was becoming a pain in the butt with his constant questions and requests for a demonstration of simple spells that he should have already known.

It was the second weekend since school had started and Harry tested Ron again for wand components, Ron needed a wand that had three cores now. Harry was quick to make the wand and when Ron tested it the results were very interesting. His power levels were above normal, his Patronus was now corporal and took the form of a dog, and he went through Charms and Transfiguration much easier. Even Hermione was impressed to see Ron spending time in the library with his head in a book.

Astoria Greengrass was amazed at what she didn't know, and should, her classes were challenging but the instructors made them fun. These instructors didn't want you to copy from a book, they wanted you to prove you understood what was taught. If she asked a question the instructor was glad to explain the answer and offer more places to look next time. Peaks had something that Tori wished she had had at Hogwarts, official study groups where more senior students worked with the younger ones to help them understand their classes. Even though she had been warned by Hermione, Tori was surprised when her Defense instructor told her to start attacking specific students with specific spells and to be prepared to defend against those same spells outside of class.

Daphne had a problem, she was upside down in the middle of a hallway with her hair changing colors rapidly. But there wasn't anyone around to cast those spells that she could see. Then she heard a laugh and a familiar voice saying she needed to study harder as Ron Weasley appeared holding his hand out and pointing at her, now she had a target and reached for her wand. "No wands Daph, I didn't use a wand so you shouldn't use one except as a last resort" Ron said.

Now Daphne was laughing, Ron had used wand-less silent magic to get her and he was proud of it, and so was she. She centered herself and canceled the spells and then challenged Ron to a duel without wands just to see if she could defeat him in a fair fight. Ron said he would accept on one condition, they had to have either their instructor, Harry, or Hermione there to fix any mistakes and make sure they didn't hurt each other; Daphne agreed and they went to find one of the three. They found Hermione sitting under a tree with Harry and both were shooting questions at each other.

"Harry, Hermione, we are sorry to disturb you while you are studying but we need a favor. Would one of you be willing to monitor a duel between the two of us? We want to test ourselves against each other but want to remain safe while we do it. We have agreed to wand-less magic only but since this is so new to me I don't want to risk hurting Daph by mistake, or her injuring me by mistake" Ron asked as he walked up to where Harry and Hermione were sitting.

This was a new side of Ron and both senior students liked it. They both agreed as they needed a break anyway. The two combatants were placed back to back and told to take 10 paces then turn and duel. While the spells were basic charms everyone was surprised when Ron put up a shield to block Daphne's spells. Daphne was soon in trouble again, Ron hadn't turned her upside down yet but every one of his spells were hitting or just barely avoided. Then she got a break, someone had sent a spell at Ron and he was tied up. That someone was Tori and she looked pissed.

"What are you doing attacking my sister Weasley?" Tori was yelling as she stomped up to Ron.

"We were testing ourselves against each other. That is why we have Harry and Hermione watching to make sure we don't injure one another. Now, release Ron – after I get a chance to hit him with something" Daphne said as she laughed at Ron's predicament.

Suddenly Tori found herself upside down and Ron was free of the ropes. Daphne was laughing but suddenly quit as Tori saw her flipped and floating towards Ron. When she was right in front of him he just leaned out and kissed her. "That was fun Daph, but what do we do with this one?" Ron asked as he place Daphne back on the ground.

Ron sat Tori back on the ground gently and told her to remember her defense class, if you attack someone expect them to get you back. All three were laughing until they noticed that their clothes changed into swimwear and they were headed towards the pool at a rapid rate and Harry and Hermione were laughing. The three were dropped in the pool and were soon joined by Harry and Hermione. "Ron you have really changed, you have been studying and you have gotten good at wand-less magic. The duel between you and Daphne was fun to watch, you were evenly matched except Daphne hasn't learned to use a wand-less shield yet." Hermione said.

The five "kids" played around in the pool for a while but when they got out Daphne and Tori complained that it was a little cool. Ron surprised everyone when he sent a brisk hot wind towards them and dried the two girls off, but then the wind got stronger and they were struggling to stand. "Uh, I need some help here that wind is out of control. I must have cast that spell wrong because I can't get control back" Ron yelled as he ran towards the two girls. Hermione had to call Windy to get rid of the wind Ron had made, Tori looked mad but Daphne was telling her that Ron was only trying to help.

Tori said she wasn't mad at Ron but at herself, "I'm a third year in the House of Air and I'm lucky enough to have a friend who is an Air Elemental and I couldn't handle a little wind. My head of house will be upset about that and probably make me work with him all day tomorrow."

Harry explained that it had to become second nature to use your elemental powers and that at first he had a hard time remembering too. Harry suggested that Tori spend some of her free time with her elemental as she couldn't be hurt by any air based spell and maybe offer Ron a chance to work with the elemental too.

As the term progressed the group saw less and less of Harry, Hermione, and Neville they were always studying and working on projects. It got to be expected to see one of them show up to teach a class with their instructors watching from the rear. Some of the students got a kick out of seeing Alana being corrected by her Masters instructor. But nobody laughed when Harry taught Defense, he was downright scarey he was so fast and accurate with his spells. But his classes were always fun he challenged his students to improve themselves. Where Hermione's Charms and Transfiguration classes were kind of dry, Harry's were fun and it wasn't unusual to see students walk out of class with weird colors or different feet and hands, but they would be laughing as someone would say "I bet you know that spell inside out by tomorrow. Nobody has beat Harry yet and you pay the price when he catches you sleeping"

Herbology students were upset, when Neville Longbottom taught there was no way to get him flustered. If you asked a stupid question he answered then assigned extra work so "you can catch up to where you are supposed to be". He seemed to know things that even his Masters instructor didn't, or had forgotten. There was a first year girl that Neville took a liking to, it wasn't unusual to see her with Neville and Susan during the weekends. Neville said often that in a few years that girl would taking her Mastery exams in Herbology.

Susan was stressed, she had an assignment to complete but didn't feel ready. Her class in Advanced First Aid was having a mock up practical tomorrow and there was no telling what type of injuries would be presented for treatment. The next morning her first test was a boy with a missing leg who was bleeding profusely from the stump and the coagulant spells weren't working. Susan took a chance and used a non-magical solution, she applied a tourniquet to the wound. When her instructor saw this she smiled and said that sometimes you had to use non-magical means until you could figure out what the underlying problem was really. "Spells don't work well on illusions my dear"

It was almost time for the Christmas break; but since this was compressed time the students couldn't really go anywhere, but they would have two weeks off from classes. It was decided that they would have a Quidditch match "The Brits" verses "The Colonists", in other words Harry's group verses the school. Both teams were to be limited to the same number of players, eleven. The twins would play Beaters, of course, Hermione, Ginny, and Susan would be the Chasers, Harry as seeker, and Ron asked to try out for Keeper against Neville. The others would stand by and be replacements if needed. The teams would have a week and a half to practice, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

It was the first practice session for the team and Ron was nervous, he had always played Keeper at home in the family games but had never faced three Chasers and two Beaters at the same time. Ron was defending one goal and Neville was at the other, the Chasers and Beaters would take turns at each goal. Neville was chosen to be first to defend his goal, Harry would act as referee. The first attempt at each goal would be just the Chasers tossing balls and trying to score. Neville missed 3 out of 10 attempts. Ron missed 1 attempt. Next the Chasers moved down the field passing and only they knew who would shoot, Neville caught the ball. On Ron's turn he caught the ball too. Then they added the Beaters to distract the Keepers; Neville missed, Ron just deflected the ball but saved the goal.

Ginny dropped out as Chaser and Daphne took her place as Ginny and Harry went head to head in a Seeker battle. Ginny was good but not as good as Harry. Then Susan dropped out and Tori took her place, that too was a good team of Chasers. Tori proved she was much better on a broom than anyone thought. It was decided that if Harry had to drop out then Ginny would take his place and Tori would take the Chaser position. But they had several secrets planned for the match which should prove interesting.

It was the day of the big game and all the students were out to watch the game, some weren't sure who to support as several were close to "The Brits". The game started and Hermione took control and headed down field at a blistering pace alone and scored the first goal. Thirty minutes into the game the school team was behind by 3 goals and called a time out and made a substitution of players. When the game started back everyone was surprised as Ginny went high and Harry went low switching positions. As soon as Harry got control of the ball he and Hermione headed down the field and the whole school was treated to a display of their speed and passing ability. The two switched and twisted so fast nobody was sure who had the ball until Hermione shot a perfect unopposed goal. The twins were having a ball on their own, they had learned to put some "English" on the Bludger so it would curve instead of going straight. This was causing havoc with the other team as the Bludger would seemingly come out of nowhere to strike. The school team soon learned that the combination of Harry, Hermione, and Tori was deadly. Up high the school Seeker made a mistake and said now that Harry was playing Chaser he had this game, wrong. Ginny soon showed him the error of that thinking as she pulled some of Harry's moves and sent him into the ground twice before they replaced him, it seemed he was seeing three and four copies of everything and couldn't walk straight.

Then came another surprise, Harry benched himself and Susan went in as Chaser. The speed down field wasn't as fast but it was just as confusing the way those three twisted and wove down the field. The Brits were ahead by 6 goals when Harry raised a hand and made a grabbing motion. The game was over 5 minutes later when Ginny flew up to the referee and handed him the Snitch. The comment by the announcer was very appropriate, "And that my friends is how to play Quidditch, British style!"

That night at supper the school Seekers both stood and said they were glad that they got to play against Harry, but they were also glad Ginny took it easy on them, as long as they remembered not to belittle her. The second Seeker then added that while he didn't have to fly against Harry, it was murder flying against Ginny and he didn't want to try a Potter special anytime in this life. The whole room laughed, loudly. Alana stood and got everyone's attention, "Students and faculty, today we saw how the British play Quidditch and we hope we never have to be that embarrassed again on the field. Harry how many more of those 'ringers' do you have to send over here? I've been told that today was the first time for Astoria, sorry Tori, to play in a game. Heaven help anyone who has to face her after she gets some experience; with the exception of the first years we have all seen Harry and Hermione play and I must say they out did themselves. Now you know why we didn't ever let them on the same team, they kick your butt and don't even ask your name. In fact except for Harry, Hermione, and Ginny none of that team had played together before today. I think even though we lost we owe 'The Brits' a round of applause" the noise was deafening.

Classes started back a few days later and the twins were depressed, nobody had said anything about their trick with the Bludger. The flying instructor came up and told them he wanted to see them after classes ended that day. When Fred and George got out to the field they were told they had to show how they got the Bludger to curve like that. The instructor said he had played Quidditch before and had played Beater but he had never seen someone do that with a Bludger, intentionally, and he wanted to know how to do it. Now the twins felt better, much better, and they showed the instructor how they did it. It was later learned that when Peaks went up against another school during regular time they used what was being called "The Weasley Attack" to great advantage, it was even taken to the pro teams by some graduate and caused quite a bit of trouble for other teams it was used against.

Summer session was just about over and the fifth and seventh years were taking their OWLs and NEWTs, Harry, Neville and Hermione were taking their Mastery exams, that meant that Ron and Daphne were taking OWLs and the twin were taking NEWTs. Hogwarts would never be the same when these students returned, McGonagall was in for a real surprise.

Harry and Hermione were summoned to meet with their instructors and were informed that the two of them would have to wait until after school let out and returned to regular time to do their practicals as it required at least three masters to test them. The Charms and Transfiguration practicals would be the first full day following the leaving feast, Harry's Defense practical would be held the following day as that was as soon as they could gather the needed extra Masters.

The leaving feast was delayed by a few days so that when they returned to regular time it would be a Monday morning. At the leaving feast after the as usual great meal it was time for awards, and as Alana stood the whole room got quiet. "Students and faculty, we come to the close of another summer session and as usual it is time to present the awards. The house award goes to those silly Air heads as they amassed the most points." this was followed by much applause. "The award for best student improvement goes to . . . Ronald Weasley, would Mr. Weasley please come forward. If Mr. Weasley has no objections I would like to explain how this young man achieved this award. Ron came to this school with a very poor attitude and very poor motivation to learn. But, since he got here he has gone from the very bottom of his class in ranking to second place. Over all his scores are now the sixth highest in the schools record, first being Ms. Granger; and I don't think that record will be broken anytime soon. Mr. Weasley lost out on first place this term to a person who I just found out is his girlfriend Ms. Daphne Greengrass. Would Ms. Greengrass please come forward to receive her top place award. The difference in their scores was 10 points, that is too close for comfort. The last time we had scores this close was when Harry Potter and Hermione Granger tied for top honors. I give you the top two students this session." There was another loud round of applause.

After the noise died down Alana presented the rest of the awards. "Now, I have one more award to present and this is the first of it's kind. I was approached by all four Head of House and told that each house wanted to present an award to an instructor, their favorite instructor. Imagine my surprise when it was the same person, or instructor, for each house. This is a problem as this person wasn't really an instructor, but a Mastery student. Anyway the whole school wants to give Mr. Harry Potter this award for his outstanding teaching methods and knowledge" Alana said then added "Also, it is my pleasure to announce that Neville Longbottom has earned his Mastery in Herbology and will receive his official certificate in a few weeks. Mr. Longbottom is the first Mastery graduate from Peaks and so the school wanted to present him with this Certificate of Accomplishment. There will be a plaque placed in the awards hall showing the first ten Masters to graduate from the school and Mr. Longbottom will be at the top as the first".

The next morning Sirius and Bill were surprised to find out that Harry and Hermione had two more days of testing to complete before they could leave. The testing for Charms and Transfiguration was today and Harry had his Defense test tomorrow. At 8am both Harry and Hermione were lead into the testing area, along with any other candidates for Master testing in Charms or Transfiguration. It was decided that since Harry, Hermione, and Alana were the only ones seeking a Mastery in Transfiguration, Hermione would take her charms test first while Harry and Alana took the test for Transfiguration. Three hours later the three were finished with the morning testing, Harry was to take his Charms test after lunch and Hermione would take her Transfiguration at the same time, 1pm.

That night Hermione and Harry were so tired that they barely ate and went to bed. Harry had been told the test the next day could take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours to complete. Harry presented himself at 8am to start the testing with verbal questioning. Next he had to demonstrate spells as they were called out by the examiners. They then took a 30 minute break and when they returned Harry had to face first one then two then finally all three examiners and demonstrate his Defenses. Harry was beginning to tire so he decide to end the testing by zipping the mouths of the examiners so they were at a disadvantage, all three were so surprised that Harry was able to either stun or bind them quickly. Lucy was called in to heal any injuries and found that Harry had two cuts on his legs, but the examiners were in much worse shape. One of the examiners was heard to say something to the effect that he never wanted to face this young man if he was upset, to take on three Masters at the same time and win was scarey.

After they were healed the examiners talked quietly for a few minutes then asked Harry if he minded one or two more questions. "Where did you come up with that zipper spell? Who taught it to you? Would you be willing to teach us the same spell?" Harry thought for only a few seconds and answered, "That spell was made and taught to me by Hermione Granger, it became a favorite prank at Hogwarts and some of the teachers even demanded to learn it so they had less noise in class. As to teaching you the spell sure since it is such a simple spell" and Harry taught them the spell in five minutes, but cautioned them that if he really put some "push" behind the spell nobody had been able to cancel it yet. That spell had been known to last even after the caster was stunned.

Harry walked out of the room, his robes were wet with sweat, he could hardly walk he was so tired, and he felt like his stomach was chewing on his spine he was so hungry and thirsty. After a pepper-up potion, three sandwiches, and about a gallon of water and iced tea Harry felt much better, but said he wanted to take a nap for at least two hours before trying to do anything else.

It was a couple of hours later when Harry came back from his nap to find Sirius, Bill, Grimstead, and the chief examiner for Defense all sitting together. When Sirius saw Harry he stood and started to clap, soon to be joined by the other three. "Prongslett, it seems that you are the first Marauder to go this far in your education. I spoke with Remus and your new name is Fire-tail. Welcome to the newest Marauder, Fire-tail." Sirius said.

"Mr. Potter, let me be the first to congratulate you as the newest Master of Defense holder. It's not official yet as the ICW has to record your scores and issue you your certificate but all of the examiners agreed you passed with almost perfect scores. To go head-to-head with one master is good, to go against two at once is outstanding, but to face three at the same time and win is Outstanding" the Chief Examiner said as he shook Harry's hand.

Alana came in and asked that Harry and Hermione take a look at the trophy case before they left, the new plaque was in place. Harry got with Hermione and Neville and the three went to see this plaque. The plaque listed Neville Longbottom, Herbology; Hermione Granger, Charms and Transfiguration; and Harry James Potter, Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense.

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**A/N: Another summer term is finished and now what awaits the group? Ron has been taken into the group and the reason for his behavior has been taken care of, what next? **

**Please be kind and comment**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 4**

This had been one heck of way to spend his birthday, four hours of questions and spell work, Harry thought. Although he had cheated a little, the Chief Examiner was the only one to block his mind so Harry had known what spells they were going to throw. The group had gotten together while Harry was napping and decided to wait one more night before leaving so they weren't in a rush. That night there was a small birthday party for Harry and Neville, just the group, guardians, and the few staff left at the school.

The next morning everyone was ready by 9am and they left soon after, only Sirius and Lucy knew where they were going. Sirius held out a port key and away they went, they landed in a small room and Sirius cautioned them that there would be mundanes outside but not on the same floor as they were staying on. The rooms were nice and only a wizard or a witch could see the buttons for their floor, 15½. Bill and Ron would be sharing a room, the twins shared a room, Harry and Neville shared, Sirius had a room – a single – all to himself as did Lucy. The girls were setup as Hermione and Susan, Luna and Ginny, Daphne and Tori. But the question was "where are we?"

Everyone was told to unpack and meet up for lunch in the main dinning area. After a quick lunch Sirius lead the group outside and told them to stick close as he didn't want to have to look for anyone in a strange city. Hermione and Lucy were the ones elected to drive the van Sirius had made arrangements for, though mostly Lucy as she was used to driving on the right-hand side of the road. Now they knew where they were, Salem Massachusetts. Their first stop was at the museum for the Salem Witch Trials. The group spent almost three hours looking around the museum, as they were leaving Sirius said they would return the next day to see the magical side of the building as that required reservations. They went to McDonald's for supper, something American and unusual for most of the group.

That night was a relaxed lay a round night, most of the group watched American TV since that was something they had not experienced before. A few of them went and used the indoor pool and hot tubs. Later that night Harry and Neville were talking as they lay in bed before going to sleep. Both men agreed that it felt weird to be considered as Masters of a particular field of magic. The subject finally got around to girls and Neville mentioned that he wanted to ask Susan to be his girlfriend, officially. Neville and Harry both agreed they wanted to see their girls in those Wild Weasel suits again; but not with the whole group around, maybe just the four of them together.

In the girls room Hermione and Susan were talking about mostly the same things, their boyfriends. Both girls agreed that they wanted a more formal relationship and maybe just the four of them going somewhere and enjoying themselves. Hermione commented that sometimes she wondered about Luna, of all the girls in the group Luna was the only one who didn't have a special friend.

The next day was very interesting as the gang saw the difference between the two sides of the trials. The magical side showed that only one real witch was killed, and that was an accident, all the rest were mundanes who were killed because they were different or due to jealousy on the part of someone else. It turned out one of the "witches" killed was because she didn't like men much and preferred spending time with women. The group got to watch a pensive memory of two of the trials, though the memories had deteriorated over time. Another memory showed the hanging of John Proctor in Salem.

The next day the group checked out and took another portkey to go to a different destination, this time they went to New Orleans to visit a few of the sites that offered "Voodoo" demonstrations and other Caribbean examples of magic. They spent two days there then off to somewhere less educational and more fun, Florida. The group spent a week seeing the sights that some had seen before. It was during this time that Harry made time to talk with Hermione and "officially" ask her to be his girlfriend, Neville and Susan had a similar conversation.

It was also while they were in Florida that trouble arose, it was on the mundane side of Disney World that several intoxicated boys hit on Ginny. They kept following her around and making rude comments, until they made the mistake of doing it front of Ron who took issue with them. This turned into a full fledged fight with it being four on one, that was when Ginny remembered she could do magic without a wand and started in on the drunks with a few of her special Bat Bogies. When the rest of the crew showed up they found Ron on the ground bleeding from his nose, and four drunk boys fighting bats made of mucus. Susan did a quick healing on Ron, just enough to stem the flow of blood, and Harry had Ginny cancel the spell as he conjured handcuffs for the four just as security walked up. Then Sirius took charge flashing his old badge and asking that the "roughnecks" be charged with assault on a minor, meaning Ginny, in addition to drunk and disorderly.

"Do you always carry three pair of cuffs?" Sirius was asked and he said with this group they came in handy to keep them in line, then he laughed as did the security guards. By the time Ginny was finished telling what had happened the four guys were charged with sexual assault on a minor and aggravated assault on Ron, as one of them had a pocketknife. Sirius explained that Ginny and Ron wouldn't be able to return for a trial as they were due to go back to London in three days to start school. Security said that if the two would come to the office and give a formal statement that should do and they could leave contact information for follow-up if needed.

A few days later Sirius said it was time to go home, back to England. He had several trials coming up that he needed to be there for and he wanted to get Ginny and Ron out of there before something else happened. One question kept coming up though, why had Ron not used wand-less magic to defeat those four? Ron's response was he didn't think of it as he was still getting used to doing magic that way. If they didn't watch her closely, Tori would use wand-less magic all the time, at least what she could do which was very simple charms.

The flight back was much calmer than the trip over as now everyone was used to it, even Ron was calm. Maybe that was because he was sitting by Daphne and the two of them were talking very quietly, as was Harry and Hermione, and Neville and Susan. Bill and Sirius were talking and Lucy was napping, while the other three girls took turns napping and talking. When they landed in London Ron, Bill, and Ginny were surprised to see their parents there waiting, of course Arthur Weasley was very excited about anything related to muggles and their technology – especially airplanes.

Everyone was hugging each other and Molly Weasley said that while the kids had been gone Dumbledore had been tried and he was now being kept in jail for a year, but not at Azkaban. Arthur Weasley said he heard that the school board had met and made McGonagall's promotion permanent and now Flitwick was the Assistant Headmaster. Ron, Daphne, and Astoria had been warned that they needed to keep most of what they learned a secret, that way they would have an easier time at Hogwarts and really surprise a few people – especially their parents.

Molly commented that the twins didn't seem surprised to see them, the twins said with all the kids gone they were sure the parents would be waiting for them to get back, "You are fairly predictable Mom". Everyone finally got all their stuff and left the terminal, everyone but the Weasleys would ride back to Potter Manor in the hired van, the Weasleys would take Arthur's car and head home so Molly could stuff the kids with food. They all agreed to get together soon and Daphne embarrassed Ron again by kissing him, right on the lips this time.

While Ron had improved since the removal of the bindings and tampering with his mind he was still Ron. It was Ron who mentioned the incident with the drunks and Ginny. When Molly heard what had happened she got all over the boys for not watching out for Ginny. Ginny said she refused to have her brothers join her in the Ladies, some of the other females might have objected to that, even Molly had to agree on that point. "And since we were on the muggle side I couldn't very well use my wand, but they had the strangest thing happen to them, their Bogies attacked them until the others showed up. Ron has changed this summer he was the first one to show up and help me, he just forgot to duck. We really need to learn more about defending ourselves like Harry and Hermione, they both have learned to defend themselves without magic in both worlds." was Ginny's long answer to get her mother off everyone's back.

5am the next morning and Ron, Ginny, and the twins were up and headed outside when Molly asked why they were up so early. Ron said they were going for a run just as they had every day for the past month, it had become a habit and he intended to keep that habit. When the kids returned Molly had a huge breakfast ready and much of it was left on the table as none of the four kids ate nearly as much as they used to. Even Ron limited his self to only three eggs, bacon, two pieces of toast, and surprisingly a couple cups of coffee. But Molly almost fell out when Ron just waved his hand and all the dishes cleaned themselves and flew over to the sink.

It was later that day when Molly saw Ron without a shirt and saw that he had bulked up some and wasn't nearly as pale, then she noticed all the boys were bulkier and Ginny had a much flatter stomach. When she happened to walk upon Ron and Ginny practicing their spell work she was amazed at the spells they were doing without wands. Her kids could do wand-less magic as if it were a natural thing, granted they weren't doing any spells that she couldn't do but she had to use her wand for them.

Two weeks later and the Hogwarts letters had come in, all of the group met up in Diagon Alley to get supplies. When Harry saw the Defense book required for the year he started to laugh, this was similar to the book they used at Peaks for seven and eight year old students. When Tori saw the book she said she could do almost all the spells wand-less and it didn't appear that she would learn anything new this year. Harry, Hermione and Daphne assured her they would make sure she learned something new.

It was while they were in the Alley that Harry heard that there had been a break-in at the ministry and something was stolen from the Department of Mysteries. This made him wonder, maybe that was why they had tried to raise Voldemort last year. He needed to find out if the spirit was still safely locked away, but right now he was going to enjoy his ice cream.

Harry was surprised when a dog Patronus came up and in Sirius' voice said "Get to Petunia's now and don't be seen". Harry grabbed Hermione and told Neville that his aunt was in trouble and the two of them were headed that way. Several people saw a bright flash of flame and then Hermione was gone, and so was Harry, as there were very few things that could stop a phoenix when it flashed. The trip took only a few seconds and when the two arrived they saw what the problem was, Dementors were trying to attack the house. Even as Harry changed back Hermione was casting her Patronus and it was soon joined by Harry's. The Dementors were soon chased away and Hermione saw a body lying on the ground, it was Dudley.

Hermione checked the boy and found that he had just passed out and thankfully had not been kissed. Petunia was beside herself and it took Harry a few minutes to calm her down enough so he could call the aurors because they needed help taking care of the people who had seen the use of magic. Sirius and Amelia were the first to arrived and Harry had to remind them that if the aurors didn't announce themselves the wards would prevent them from coming inside the designated area. All it took was a simple command and Mrs. Figg was allowed to enter, and soon followed by several aurors.

At first Amelia was hesitant to believe that Dementors had been there until it was confirmed by Harry, Hermione, Petunia, Mrs. Figg, and even Dudley who described the creatures too well. Vernon showed up and started to raise a stink, until Petunia shoved her wand under his triple chin and told him to "Zip it" which curiously caused a zipper to appear on his mouth; Harry was impressed he didn't know she knew that spell or that she could even do it.

The aurors soon had the mess cleaned up, all the neighbors had been Obliviated, Harry had checked the wards and found them intact, and everyone had moved inside. Hermione gave Petunia the counter-charm for the "Zip it" spell but Petunia said she couldn't get it to work, so Hermione canceled the spell with a wave of her hand. Hermione also did a few diagnostics on Dudley and found that the exposure to so much magic had caused Dudley to be almost at the same level of a squib, that explained why he had been able to describe those Dementors.

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**A/N: Okay it is time to go back to school and see what chaos ensues **

**Please be kind and comment**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 5**

It was time to return to Hogwarts and Harry still hadn't been able to find out much about the supposed break-in at the Department of Mysteries or if the "spirit" was still there. Harry and Hermione arrived at Platform 9¾ at the same time, Harry flashed and Hermione came by floo. The two selected the compartment and made it their own, by enlarging it and securing it, they also made sure it was much more comfortable. By the time the others arrived Harry and Hermione had had time for a little personal time together. The surprise was when the Weasleys showed up 15 minutes before the train was to leave, what was the world coming to?

The trip to school was the same as usual, except Malfoy couldn't seem to find the compartment, to those watching every time he got near it he would turn around and leave the car. Crabbe and Goyle just followed along behind Draco as usual, but even they saw something wasn't right with Malfoy. This was a first, Draco Malfoy arrived at Hogwarts with his wand intact and had not suffered a single prank the whole trip.

Everyone was wondering who, or what, would be the new DADA instructor this year. Nobody saw Ms. DuPrie so they were wondering if they would have a new potions instructor this year also, several of the students hoped not as she had made potions fun. Their questions were soon answered as McGonagall stood for the welcoming and to start the sorting. The sorting hat and stool were brought out and Flitwick did the sorting, this year the distribution of students was a little more even as every house got about the same number of new students.

After the meal McGonagall stood again to introduce the new instructors, for Potions it would be Horace Slughorn. The new DADA instructor was a toady-looking woman in a bright pink sweater, Deloris Umbridge. Once the introductions were made and the warnings given out, Umbridge kept trying to get McGonagall's attention. McGonagall just told her that she needed to see Horace for a cough suppression potion or maybe she needed to see the nurse. Then things got interesting as the spirit of Hogwarts entered the great hall and approached the head table.

"_**Headmistress McGonagall, members of the staff, and students of Hogwarts, I, the Spirit of Hogwarts, welcome you once again to these halls. But I have a question for the staff and the Headmistress, 'Is this woman qualified to teach the students Defense'? According to the records, Deloris Jane Umbridge got an Acceptable on both her OWLs and NEWTs. That would mean that she is incapable of teaching above that level. While the text she has chosen is acceptable for first years, it is not acceptable for any other years. I'm sure the board didn't approve of this person for the position, in fact she was forced on the school by the ministry; this is a direct violation of the school charter. Professor Slughorn is acceptable as he has the credentials to teach Potions from the ICW.**_

_**I will warn each and every staff member and student that I will be watching and judging whether or not the desired standards are kept. I have made a contract with Madame Longbottom to contact her if the standards are not being met and where the problem, as I see it, is located or who isn't up to the task."**_ with that said the Lady Hogwarts faded away.

"Well we will have to get rid of that ghost immediately. It is no wonder that the students scores are so low if that type of ghost is allowed to dictate school policy" Umbridge said in a huffy tone.

"Madame Umbridge, that was no ghost; that was the spirit of Hogwarts. Believe me, if you think you can remove her go right ahead and try at your own risk, for you will be taking on the whole of Hogwarts when you do try." McGonagall replied.

There was much talk throughout the school that night about what Hogwarts herself had said about the new DADA instructor, Hermione was busy reading up on the charter for the school and found that it was, in fact, a violation of the charter for the ministry to force the instructor on the school. Then Hermione found something that caught her attention, the standards of address for students and staff.

When Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ron had their first DADA class it was a surprise when Umbridge told them there would be no need to keep wands out as there would be no wand waving in her class. Umbridge then passed out copies of the book she had chosen and instructed them to turn to page one and read for the rest of the period. Hermione raised her hand and Umbridge asked if Hermione had a question about the first page.

"No Madame Umbridge, I wanted to clarify what you said. Did I misunderstand that there is to be no practical application in this class and that we were to review information that is for pre-Hogwarts students?" Hermione asked.

"I would have thought I made myself very clear, there is no reason to practice spells that you have no use for in this class. And why would you need to practice these spells, who do imagine would attack students here at school?" was Umbridge's reply.

"I would assume that would be very clear due to passed years, Death Eaters" Harry said.

"You will raise your hand before speaking in class young man. And who are you?" Umbridge asked.

"Sorry ma'am, Harry Potter." Harry replied.

"Mr. Potter, I should have known it would be you or one of your associates who would try and disrupt class with your lies. All of the so called Death Eaters were removed 14 years ago and haven't been heard from since. It was your lies that caused that ruckus at the World Cup that was misreported as so called Death Eaters attacking the event." Umbridge said.

"Madame Umbridge, did I misunderstand or did you just call the only heir of an ancient and noble house a liar?" Harry asked as he stood.

"First of all that is PROFESSOR Umbridge, and that will be 20 points for disrespect. Now what makes you think that just because you are a Potter you are a member of an ancient or noble house and what does that have to do with this class?" Umbridge replied.

"I challenge the loss of points and asked for arbitration under the charter of Hogwarts, secondly it is a crime to call any member of any Noble house a liar. You madam will either apologize or meet me on the field of honor this day as is my right under Wizard Law. You madam, according to the charter of Hogwarts, are not allowed the title of Professor and to claim that title is also a crime. Hogwarts, I request you summon the Headmistress, Prof. Flitwick, and Prof. Sprout as arbitrators per the charter." Harry said with much conviction.

"You will serve detention with me Mr. Potter every night for the next week for that outburst" Umbridge shouted just as McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout entered the room.

"Hogwarts has informed us that arbitration was requested and that the instructor didn't grant that request. Who requested the arbitration, and why?" McGonagall asked.

Harry, still standing, said he had and the reason was the points were deducted unfairly. "I asked Madam Umbridge if I heard her correctly when she called me and my house a liar. She took offense that she wasn't addressed as professor, when under the charter she isn't allowed to claim that title. When this was pointed out she gave me a detention just as you walked in. Also, under Wizard Law she has the option of either apologizing or meeting me on the Field of Honor this day. As I speak it, so mote it be." Harry continued as he and Umbridge both glowed.

"Madam Umbridge, did you in fact attempt to take points for a student asking a question? If so then you were wrong, if in fact you are in violation of the charter then you will be fined according to the charter. Miss Granger you are the one person most knowledgeable about the charter and regulations, was Mr. Potter's challenge valid?' McGonagall asked.

"Headmistress, the challenge was valid. Under the charter and regulation, no instructor may claim the title of Professor unless he or she has at least an 'E' in the subject they are teaching and 5 years teaching experience under a full fledged professor or Master" Hermione replied and cited article, section, and paragraph from the charter and the regulations.

"Very well Miss Granger, of course I will have to verify your statement" McGonagall said and Hermione just nodded. "Now as to the points taken they are restored and another 20 points are awarded to Gryffindor for being knowledgeable of the regulations and the charter. As to the detention what was the reason given?"

"For his outburst in class and for challenging my authority. I warn you McGonagall this isn't over. Nobody overrides the minister's assistant." Umbridge said.

"Deloris, the detention is not the problem right now, the challenge of honor is what is important since if you take that challenge you will be arrested for assault on a student and if you don't accept the challenge; okay Mr. Potter or Mr. Longbottom what is the result of refusing the challenge of honor?" McGonagall asked.

"The major result of refusing the challenge is loss of all magic if the challenge is valid, which in this case as Heir apparent of the Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom I so swear. There are a few minor consequences, the loser of the challenge loses all lands, titles, Wizengamot seats and proxies, and 95% of all funds to the winner – that is if the loser still lives as these challenges of honor used to be to the death. To refuse is to lose" Neville answered.

"Madam Umbridge, as I desire to be fair about this, I give you one last chance to apologize with minor consequences. Those being your resignation as instructor, the loss of your seat on the Wizengamot and all proxies, and a fine of G1000. Since it would be unseemly for a male to face a female, you have the option of appointing a male member of your family or I can request a female to stand in my stead. Your answer please." Harry calmly stated.

Umbridge was appalled that this had gone that far, "I refuse the challenge as I feel it has no place and no basis in fact" was the last thing Umbridge said.

A bright gold sphere surrounded Umbridge and then both rose up and floated out of the school. At Gringotts a parchment appeared to Ragnok saying that Deloris Jean Umbridge had lost a challenge of honor to Lord Harry James Potter and that as a result 95% of her vault was now the property of Lord Potter in addition to all lands, titles, properties, and Wizengamot seats and proxies. A similar notice appeared on the desk of the Chamberlain of the Wizengamot and was read into the record.

At the head of the classroom all that was left was Umbridge's wand and it was broken. McGonagall now had a problem, no instructor for DADA. Harry told her that he could get a qualified instructor to Hogwarts within two days if the headmistress so requested, which she did. When McGonagall went to sort out Umbridge's office she found over ten "Blood Quills" laid out in the desk drawer with a note saying "For Detentions", now McGonagall was even more upset.

"_What do I do about DADA classes until Harry gets that instructor here? Who will teach the other classes? I really need to read the charter and regulations again, it is embarrassing that students know more about those than the Headmistress."_ McGonagall thought as she made the announcement at lunch that DADA classes were canceled for the day.

Harry went to contact Sirius. Sirius was already aware of the results of the challenge and had been waiting to contact Harry to find out what had happened. Harry explained everything and then asked Sirius for help in acquiring a new DADA instructor. Sirius had two options to offer, one – Harry could take over since he did have his Mastery in Defense, or two – he could ask Amelia to see if she had an auror available to teach the class since Remus was not available. Harry elected to call Amelia and see what she had to say. Sirius then suggested that he and Amelia just come to the school.

Harry informed McGonagall that Sirius and Amelia were coming to see her and that they would help secure the new instructor. It was just before supper that Sirius and Amelia showed up,. After McGonagall explained what had happened both Sirius and Amelia looked at each other and shook their heads. "You do realize Professor that if Umbridge had accepted that challenge she wasn't subject to arrest. But the question is what happened to her, where is she now?" Amelia said.

"_**Madam Bones, Lord Black, and Headmistress, the golden sphere was my way of removing Deloris Jane Umbridge from the castle once her magic was lost. After all, she had no business being here since she was not a witch or a wizard. She was transported to a non-magical settlement and left there. Might I suggest that Lord Black take the post as DADA instructor, but not as a Professor, until a suitable professor can be found. It would seem that Mr. Potter took care of a problem before I had to interfere and ruined my fun."**_ Lady Hogwarts said and it sounded as if she was laughing.

McGonagall looked at Sirius and told him that sounded like a good idea, but no pranks on the students or staff. She then said that it might have been interesting to watch a duel between Deloris and one of Harry's female friends since most of them were more advanced than Deloris would have ever imagined. Amelia said if it had been Susan then Umbridge would have had a real surprise, since she had received training from several aurors. Sirius just mentioned one name, Hermione, and McGonagall shivered at the thought of Hermione raising a wand against anyone except Harry.

McGonagall announced that Sirius Black was the new interim instructor for DADA there were several yells of glee and a few shouts of displeasure, from the Slytherin table. Sirius stood and said his time was limited and that all students needed to make sure they had the correct books for his class, the previous books were not to be used. "As a warning, the first class will be a test of what you know and what you should know at this point of your education" was Sirius' closing remark.

After the evening meal, Sirius took time to speak with Harry alone. Harry suggested that once Sirius and Amelia were outside the walls they use a portkey he had for them, and not to be surprised where they landed and to exit the red square as quickly as possible, the elves would take care of them until the others arrived. Amelia had taken time to speak with Susan also, just to see what else had been going on at Hogwarts.

Sirius and Amelia bid McGonagall good night and said they were going to apparate once outside the wards as they had a few things to do to prepare for the next day. As soon as the two were outside the wards Sirius activated the portkey Harry had given him and both adults were surprised to find themselves in a cavern. They got off the red square quickly as Sirius knew that Harry wouldn't kid about that. A strange elf appeared and asked the two to follow her.

"I is Winky and I will be taking care of youse for Master Harry until he comes. Would Lord Black or Lady Bones like tea and biscuits while they wait?"

It wasn't long before Harry and the rest of the group arrived. "Madam Bones, Sirius welcome to the Chamber of Secrets. This is where we practice and study the advanced subjects and techniques when not in class with either the Headmistress or Prof. Flitwick. I thought it was time for the two of you to see this place and I have a favor to ask, please give this portkey to Bill Weasley and tell him where it will take him. Also, here is a reusable portkey for you Madam Bones should you ever need to escape to a place of safety, the one I gave you earlier Sirius is also reusable and has the same function." Harry explained.

Sirius and Amelia were given the tour and they had several questions which were answered either by Harry, Hermione, or Susan. When Amelia asked why they didn't have an area set aside for Herbology, Harry said that Neville took care of that by bringing samples from the greenhouses as they were needed and then returned them when finished. Harry told both adults that he thought it was time to get a new Minister of Magic and that most, if not all, of the laws Umbridge had railroaded through the Wizengamot should be repealed, especially the ones concerning non-humans. And he thought that using the moneys gained from Umbridge to assist the Werewolfs in obtaining the Wolfbain potion was appropriate.

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**A/N: Well Umbridge is taken care of and I think I did something that any other FanFiction author hasn't done to her. This tale will be updated on either Saturday or Sunday each week. I am trying to keep at least two chapters ahead so wish me luck.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 6**

It was the next day when McGonagall learned that Umbridge had in fact used Blood Quills on three students, first years at that. _"Maybe if I'm lucky I can get her brought back and deal with her myself. It would seem I need practice in human to animal transfiguration and she would be the perfect target, I might even enjoy the experience"_ McGonagall thought. But that wasn't to be as only Hogwarts herself knew where Umbridge had been sent.

Harry, Hermione, and the rest of the original group were mostly bored in classes as they were so far ahead in their studies, especially Harry and Hermione since they had Mastery level. The schedules for 5th years was stressful for most of the students so Hermione suggested that they see if maybe the Headmistress would consider adding special study groups where upper level students tutored the lower levels, Harry agreed and said he would get Sirius to second the suggestion to McGonagall.

The end of the first week and after lunch on Saturday, before Harry, Hermione, Neville, Susan, Luna, and Sirius had a meeting with the Headmistress in her office. Sirius brought the suggestion up and when McGonagall seemed reluctant Hermione took over, as she was the most verbal anyway.

"Headmistress, as you are aware the five of us are way ahead of our classes. We thought that it would help the students if there were extra people available to tutor the students that are having a hard time with their studies. Charms and Transfiguration are two subjects that Harry and I are well able to tutor as you know, Harry is also very able to help out in Defense and Neville can run circles around anyone in Herbology. That is three of what we have been taught to consider the core courses every witch or wizard needs to know, with Potions being the fourth. No offense, but the other courses offered here are not that important in every day life for most people. As it stands now the real first time students are given career advice is in their fifth year just as they are gearing up for OWLs, which are very stressful. If we can provide extra help in these core courses then the overall scores will increase school wide. We all learned last year that the way the exams are administered is not the way they should be and I imagine that overall the scores were low last year for OWLs and NEWTs." Hermione said and McGonagall replied that overall the school was just barely able to obtain an Acceptable average score.

"Professor, the six of us are willing to do most of the work on this. We have already talked to Prof. Flitwick and he is willing to help out. The only area we really need help in is Potions since Prof. DuPrie left and we don't really know Prof. Slughorn Would it be possible to meet with the prefects and head-boy and head-girl to see if they would be willing to help out also?" Harry said as he continued the discussion. McGonagall agreed to call a meeting of the prefects and heads for the same time the next day.

That night the "Elite Eleven" met up in the chamber along with Sirius to discuss the proposal that had been made to the Headmistress. Luna asked if it might be possible to see if she could be moved to fifth year completely, skipping her fourth year all together at Hogwarts. Sirius said he would support any of the group skipping a year except for the newest three of the group. The group broke up and went to practice or study , Hermione and Neville were doing review for any of the others in their fields and Sirius offered to help any of them with Defense. Harry said he had something he needed to do regarding wand making so he would be back shortly.

When Harry returned he asked Ron and Ginny if there had been any changes at the Burrow since they returned from Peaks. Both agreed that their mother had been a little upset when Ron didn't eat all the time and had gotten mad when she found out about the tapeworm. "But when we mentioned that Ron's magic had been messed with she just about blew the roof off the house. We are afraid to mention the mental parts to either of our parents. When dad found out he got just as mad, and he doesn't get mad very often" Ginny said.

"You should have seen the reaction from Daphne when I told her about someone messing with my mind! She thinks it was Dumbledore who did all this, but I'm not so sure since I've been eating like that all my life – well since I was six years old according to Mom." Ron continued.

Harry next pulled Sirius to the side and asked about the globe that had been put in the DOM, Sirius said he didn't know but would check on it for Harry. Harry had a better idea, he suggested that Amelia be asked to check on the globe since she was the one to place it there and maybe check on what they found out about the strange creature from the last challenge. Sirius agreed that it would be easier for Amelia to check on those things and he would mention it to her on Monday.

The next afternoon the group met again with the Headmistress, but this time all the prefects and the heads were there. Hermione once again made the proposal of the study groups. The Slytherin prefect asked why Hermione thought she was qualified to tutor students in Charms and Transfiguration. McGonagall told the group that Hermione was very well versed in both subjects and could probably pass her NEWTs right now, while very few people could best Harry in Defense or Neville in Herbology. Ravenclaw was all for the idea and Hufflepuff wasn't far behind, Gryffindor said that Harry, Hermione, and Neville had been tutoring their house for two years and it showed on test results. Hermione ended the debate with a simple statement that it wasn't just her who would be doing the tutoring but the prefects and instructors. It was decided that the idea was worth a trial basis.

McGonagall announced the study groups at supper that night and by the next morning the castle had changed to allow for the study groups. Hogwarts had, overnight, added a few rooms on the first floor and these rooms were marked as Charms and Transfiguration and had strong wards on them to prevent escaping spells. On the walls of each new room were charts to show the correct wand movements for different spells and books on the different courses were available from bookcases now lining the walls of each room.

McGonagall and Flitwick both announced in class that the new rooms were for the study groups to use and that they, along with prefects and select students, would be available each evening to help any student who wished for extra help. Sirius was slightly surprised to see that the DADA classroom was different, it had been expanded and now consisted of two rooms, the normal classroom and a new room without desks or chairs – Harry explained that the new room was for spell work.

The first use of the new rooms was that night, Harry and Sirius were waiting for anyone to show up for tutoring in Defense and were surprised when around 20 students showed up. Once everyone was inside Sirius stood and told the students that this study group would be two-fold, one for review and help with books and one for spells only. Harry was to be the main one for spells and Sirius would handle the books and creatures. A few seventh years objected to Harry until Sirius said there would be a demonstration that evening to show that Harry was more than capable of teaching spell work

The demonstration was a not so simple duel between Sirius and Harry; Harry was throwing spells so quickly that Sirius was soon out-classed, the few offensive spells Sirius threw were either dodged, ducked, or blocked by Harry. After the duel Harry told the group that they would start with simple spells and work up to more difficult ones.

In Charms Hermione joined Flitwick and the group was told basically the same thing, Flitwick would do knowledge and Hermione would do spells most of the time. In Transfiguration McGonagall told her group that either Harry or Hermione would be helping out along with prefects and head students. The biggest surprise was in potions, the Weasley twins were there to assist Slughorn and they weren't playing around. Slughorn had heard about the twins and was surprised to see them so serious, the twins were making sure that there were few mistakes and were giving students tips on preparation of components and methods.

Things were going fine for a few weeks, but on the night Hermione her class in Charms theory the students all left with a headache from overload of information. Flitwick told Hermione she needed to ease up a little and give the theory slower and clearer and not so complicated. The next night the group assuming they would be working on spells were surprised to see Harry start to repeat the lesson from the night before, only he made it fun and explained that Charms was a part of Defense, if you knew advanced Charms then you had a better handle on Defense. Harry demonstrated this by asking a sixth year to be a test subject and to throw simple spells at him. Harry let the girl throw a few spells and then suddenly levitated her, which caused her to become disorientated and Harry easily disarmed her. Harry explained that the use of two spells, Wingardium Leviosa and a summoning charms was all it took to disarm a person if it was done quickly.

The fact that Harry had done the spells silently wasn't overlooked by the students and several asked when they would learn that, Harry looked at Flitwick and said seventh year usually but that might change starting next year. That night that study group left not with headaches but in very animated conversations. After the session was over Harry explained to Hermione that she tried to put too much information into her explanations and teachings and that she needed to remember what level she was talking about, the levitation spell was first year and the summoning charm was fifth year, at least at Hogwarts.

Many of the Hufflepuffs were upset when Neville corrected Prof. Spout but she quickly told them that Neville was correct and that she had never thought of it that way before, "It is good when the Professor learns something from the student, it keeps us grounded and human" was what Sprout said. Of course Neville never said anything about having his Mastery in Herbology, just like Harry and Hermione kept quiet about theirs in Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense.

**~X~X~X~**

Albus Dumbledore was at his house and things weren't going well. He still had a few sources of information at Hogwarts and was surprised to hear about the study groups, not to mention the new rooms, at the school where he had been Headmaster for so long. The news that the houses were cooperating, even Slytherin, was not what he wanted; he had worked hard to cause the strife between the houses. What was worse was that the last time he had seen Harry Potter, Harry had disarmed him of his wand – the Elder Wand – and now Dumbledore had to use another wand and it wasn't as powerful. As well as since Snape had been removed Dumbledore no longer had access to the power increasing potion he had become addicted to and his body was rebelling at the loss.

Severus Snape was also having problems, he was now just getting by on what potions he could make and sell. He was not even trying to make the "dark" potions and those sold much better and for a higher price. The main reason was that he no longer had a ready supply of the ingredients and some were very hard to find and expensive. The one thing he didn't miss was teaching, he loved potions but even he knew he was not a teacher – at least not for those who had no knowledge of basic potions. He did miss his advanced classes as those were the ones that really liked potions and showed an aptitude for them, most would never be Masters but would be quite good at them.

Cornelius Fudge was upset, his assistant Deloris Umbridge had gone missing the first week of classes and had not been heard from since. He knew that she had lost a duel of honor to that Potter brat and that she had lost her magic, but he still missed her. After all, she was willing to do things his wife wouldn't even consider and she had access to all those proxies that helped him get things through the Wizengamot that he couldn't even get thought about now.

Amelia Bones was getting restless, Sirius was now spending much more time at Hogwarts and thus she didn't get to see him as much, and her bed was getting lonely and cold at night. She had finally gotten an appointment to check on the globe Sirius had asked about but still wondered why he was interested in that globe. She knew that the DOM had had little success in determining what the globe contained and why it was so important.

**~X~X~X~**

It was time for the first Quidditch match of the year and it would be Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff. Madam Hooch was looking forward to this match as she had little to do since the first years had already completed their flying lessons. The surprise was that Hufflepuff had a new chaster, Susan Bones, and she was good. The bad news was that Hooch had had a major broom failure and was now in the hospital wing herself which left nobody to referee the match, the school really needed to get new brooms for the students to use. The referee problem was solved when Sirius offered to do the honors, the match turned out to be quite interesting and Ravenclaw won the match.

There had been a little excitement during the Ravenclaw – Hufflepuff match, several Slytherins had tried to interfere but were caught by Sirius before they caused too much trouble. A couple of seventh years had tried to jinx the brooms of the Hufflepuff chasers but for some unknown reason Susan's broom refused to be jinxed and for some other unknown reason the guilty students were glowing with a pulsating red outline. The two boys and one girl were given detention with Prof. Sprout and they found out how to shovel dragon dung by hand since their wands were in the professor's pocket. The three students weren't too welcome in their dorm either since they lost 50 points each for their house, Draco was glad it wasn't him this time.

It was Halloween and there was a party going on in the great hall, a costume party and the students were dressed as muggle characters. Everyone got a laugh out of the twins, they were dressed as clowns complete with big floppy shoes, frizzy neon green and red hair, white faces, and big red or green noses. The twins staged several "fights" with large clubs that squeaked or beeped when they hit each other, they even got into a water fight and several people were soon wet – only to be dried off by Sirius. One of the highlights was when Sirius walked in between them and got water thrown on him from both sides and started chasing the two clowns around the room. The other highlight was when the twins got McGonagall between them and everyone thought she would end up wet, wrong she got showered by confetti instead – the twins knew better than to throw water on her. McGonagall got into the act and shot water at them from her wand only to have it change at the last second to ping pong balls.

Harry drew attention also, he came as a "fire eater" from a circus. He got lots of attention when he would juggle balls of fire and appear to eat them, or when he would throw fire at people and it wouldn't harm them (except when he lit one of the twins rears on fire so the other one could throw water on him). Neville came as a "strong man" and would walk around with weights in his hand, everyone thought they were fakes until Draco tried to pick one up and couldn't (thanks to a sticking charm Neville put on it to glue it to the floor).

The students were still recovering from the party when the Daily Prophet came out the next morning and the headline was about an escape from Azkaban the previous evening. Somehow almost all the Death Eaters had escaped with help from the outside and the Dementors hadn't even tried to prevent this. Things got worse that night when Sirius told Harry that the globe was missing from the DOM and had been since last year but nobody had said a thing about it. Harry was so mad it was a good thing the room was shielded and warded when he found out as he radiated magic.

Harry, after he calmed down, said he wouldn't trust most of the Ministry ever again, except Amelia and Sirius, and maybe a few like Mr. Weasley. The DOM got a real surprise when Harry and Sirius made a surprise appearance and demanded to see the "baby" that was captured last year, it too was missing and so were a a couple of workers in that department. After contacting Amelia, the three went to see Fudge and nobody was happy when that meeting ended, especially Fudge as he was told that his days were coming to an end very soon.

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**A/N: Well now we know where the "baby" came from last year. The twins had fun at Halloween, the students got their extra study sessions, and the stage is set for more problems. Am I evil or just sneaky? Rick has returned to the USA for a while, sorry I forgot to mention that.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 7**

The school settled back to normal after the Halloween party. The students were still talking about some of the costumes and tricks played by the Weasley twins days after the party. Everyone was looking forward to Christmas break next, but that was almost two months away. Down in the chamber Harry was spending more and more time in the library and he was studying some very old looking books.

It was Ron Weasley who asked a question that several wondered about, "Harry, why are you at Hogwarts? You have already finished your schooling and even got your Masters in three subjects. You, Hermione, and Neville could be making money with your education."

"Ron you are correct in that Hermione and Neville and I have graduated and even gotten Masters in several subjects. But, there is still that blasted prophecy to deal with and I can't deal with it until I get more information and Hogwarts is the best place to get that information. As to the money, all three of us have houses that are rich so we don't really need the extra money, except maybe for Hermione since hers is a minor house. My parents went to Hogwarts and I feel a kinship to the place, also I want to help the school to become what it once was – a leader in magical education known throughout the world. Besides, this is the perfect place to practice new spells and such, to develop new wards, and with Sirius' and Amelia's help we can get the government back on track. You've only been to Peaks once but you should now see what is possible with a few changes here at Hogwarts. By being here I can get some of those changes started, the first step is to get more teachers that are better educated and a better curriculum overall for the school." was Harry's answer.

In Slytherin Tracey Davis cornered Daphne and asked how Daphne got so good at spells and such over the summer. Daphne told her that she had taken some advanced instruction during the summer and it had really improved her skills and knowledge. Now Tracey wanted to take the same instructions and asked if Daphne could help her set it up for the coming summer. Daphne said she would see what she could do.

Something similar was happening in Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott asked almost the same thing of Susan and got the same answer. In Ravenclaw, Luna didn't get approached in the same way as she was again staying in the Heir's Quarters so wasn't as easy to locate and question. Hermione got approached by the Patil twins during one of the Defense group meetings and gave them the same answer. Harry was told of all the requests and said that if things worked out then they wouldn't have to go to Peaks, they could get the same level right there at Hogwarts.

Somewhere in northern England south of the Scottish border, a short toad-faced woman wearing pink to excess was taken into custody due to her acting strangely. She even claimed that she was a witch and kept picking up sticks and trying to "hex" people, when one of her actions ended with a child injured she was labeled as a danger to herself and others and sent to a custodial institute. A search for her past found nothing, the people of the small hamlet she had been in said she just appeared one day and had been acting strange ever since.

Harry watched the paper to see if there was anything new happening since the mass escape from Azkaban, so far nothing had happened except there was an increase in the number of folks who just disappeared. Harry noticed that all of Draco Malfoy's mail was monitored, this information came from Hogwarts herself. Daphne reported that the only ones having anything to do with Draco were Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson, nobody else wanted anything to do with him. Even though Draco had permission, he had not been allowed to go to Hogsmead by order of the Headmistress.

It was the day before Christmas break and everyone was excited except Draco Malfoy, he had been told that he was not allowed to leave the castle as his mother had been caught with dark objects and was being held by the Ministry. Things got worse when the Ministry confiscated Malfoy Manor due to an anonymous tip as to where to look for more objects and many were found hidden under the floor of the manor and in secret rooms. The discovery of hidden financial records that showed who had received moneys for favors from Lucius showed that Fudge had been the biggest one. The result of that find caused many people in the Ministry to lose their jobs and be held for questioning.

Harry knew where the tip came from since he was the one to send it. Dobby had let several things slip that Harry picked up on and passed on to Sirius and Amelia. Now all of the Malfoy vaults were inaccessible except Draco's school vault which held just enough to cover his education for the rest of the year. Harry had been told that Fudge would be removed officially after Christmas but for now he was just a figurehead and had no power what so ever. The shakeup at the Ministry was far from over.

At 10am everyone was boarding the carriages to go to Hogsmead to catch the Express back to London. Before the Express could even be loaded there was an attack on it and the engine itself was destroyed. There were many injured students and townsfolk but only two deaths. Harry, and his group were responsible for most of the defense the only one injured badly was Tori and she would be okay after a short time in the hospital.

The attack had started silently when the floo network was disabled throughout the town, the next stage was the casting of ten blasting hexes at the engine of the Express causing it to explode. Then the attackers started to attack the students and teachers with stunners and binding hexes. It was this attack on the students that got the quickest response as the attackers weren't prepared for the students to return fire thanks to the Defense study groups. When Harry and his friends started to get involved it looked like the battle wouldn't last long, then the Dementors arrived. At first it was just a few patroni that appeared from the students who knew how to cast that spell. But when the number of Dementors increased everyone saw the return of the Dragon and Hippogriff accompanied by a large bear Patronus.

If anybody had, had the time to notice there were several students that glowed with a magical light, amongst them were Harry, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Susan. It was easy to see that the attackers were Death Eaters due to the black robes and white masks. The spell fire was very colorful from both sides of the battle, reds, yellows, purples, and a few other colors were seen, the only green spells were from the Death Eaters and those spells were being deflected or intersected by boulders that appeared out of nowhere. It was the appearance of a very large creature of fire and the walking mound of earth that got everyone's attention, especially the Death Eaters who tried to use water on the fire creature only to have the water turn on them. Then the wind picked up and actually attacked the attackers, things looked bad for the ones in black robes and they started to disappear before Harry thought to put up anti-port key wards.

By the time the aurors got there the battle was just about over, but a few of the aurors did see the Dragon and the Hippogriff not only drive the Dementors away but destroy them in the air. Any Dementors that were too close to the ground were destroyed by a large bear Patronus. When the smoke had cleared there was one dead villager and one dead auror found, but there were many injured townsfolk and students, including Harry and Neville. Both boys had been blindsided by cutting hexes and would need some blood replenishment potions, the cuts had been given first-aid by Hermione and Susan but they didn't have any potions available. Once the two boys were stable the two girls started working on the others who were injured.

Medical teams were called in by the aurors and the school nurse came also, when she saw what the two girls were doing she decided that those two would be serving time with her after the break and their education would be supplemented by her training them further. "Poppy" was surprised when she saw Susan handle a partially amputated leg, the girl didn't waste any time as she stopped the bleeding and cast a stasis charm on the leg in hopes it could be saved. The Weasley twins were taking charge along with Daphne Greengrass and getting the "walking wounded" headed to the castle, several of the senior students were acting as escorts and wands were out all over the place in readiness if another attack happened, it didn't.

When Sirius and Amelia arrived at Hogsmead everything appeared well organized and Amelia said so, only to be told that the students had been the ones to do the organizing, mostly Daphne and the Weasley Twins. When Sirius asked where Harry was Luna told him Harry and Neville were in the hospital already thanks to two air elementals who then started transporting those that needed it to the hospital wing. Then the elves arrived and nobody got close to Hermione, Susan, or Luna without being faced with at least two elves pointing fingers at them. Sirius noticed that the two elves by Hermione, one male and one female, wore Potter House emblems on their tunics, the others wore the emblem of all four houses together.

Parents and guardians of injured students were notified and arrangements were made to get the others home for the holidays, either portkey, apparition, or floo. Harry and Neville were released from the hospital quickly but told to rest for several hours before going home, so they were in their beds in the dorm and Ron Weasley was standing at the door with his wand out and nobody entered except with his permission. When a couple of Gryffindor students objected to Susan coming in the common room those objectors had to deal with four Weasleys, Susan was soon by Neville's bedside and Hermione was by Harry's.

The headline the next day in the paper was:

**STUDENTS ATTACKED AT HOGWARTS**

The paper reported that a group of Death Eaters had attacked students as they were getting on the Hogwarts' Express and that the attack was repelled with many injuries and two deaths, neither of which was a student. The article went on to say that the engine for the Hogwarts Express had been destroyed by the Death Eaters, but would be replaced before school resumed. What the paper didn't report was that the attack was handled by the students prior to the arrival of the aurors and that over 20 Dementors were destroyed by very strange patroni.

At the Greengrass house Tori was resting, she would have some very impressive scars due to the injuries she had received. The Greengrass parents were very upset, their youngest daughter had been injured while at school and it looked as if she would be scared for life. Their older daughter, Daphne, had told them what happened and that if not for the extra training the two had received that past summer they most certainly would have been killed. At Potter Manor there were four very upset people, Harry, Sirius, Rick, and Lucy, not to mention over 200 elves that worked for the Potter family.

At Longbottom Manor Augusta Longbottom was trying to get Neville to calm down, she didn't notice that Neville's personal elf was missing. The missing elf was talking to the head elf and was upset that his master had been hurt and he was asking to be allowed to accompany Neville back to Hogwarts along with several other elves to protect the master. At the Weasley house Bill was learning from his younger brothers and sister how to cast some spells that he had never learned in school. In return Bill was teaching his father how to strengthen the wards around the house and showing the younger kids a few spells he had learned while on assignment for Gringotts.

This was not going to be a very nice Christmas for many families, many were dealing with injured children and all were upset at the attack. Many of the families sent howlers to Fudge which were redirected by the mail room to his house, which almost blew that house up. It was later learned that Mrs. Fudge had a few words to say to her husband about the damage to their house and that Fudge spent the Christmas holidays somewhere else.

It was four days until Christmas when Harry went shopping for the rest of his Christmas presents. While in Diagon Alley Harry made sure to visit Bill Weasley at the bank and the two of them disappeared for around 30 minutes, the bank's records showed that a major house portkey had been used but not where it took anyone. Also, the wards at the bank underwent a change and Ragnok had a very evil grin on his face. Only one goblin at the bank noticed that the Potter vault increased by G10,000.

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**A/N: Well school was going great until the Christmas break. This break will be very interesting for many people and will have a few surprises for some. Look for many changes after the break at Hogwarts as there will be some strange things happening.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 8**

After the usual large breakfast Harry, Sirius, Rick, and Lucy opened presents from family and the friends that they knew weren't going to be over during the holidays, like Alana and Grimstead. Remus and Tonks came by after lunch and the group had a good afternoon, in spite of the snow on the ground. Remus told them that Alana had offered him a job during the summer at Peaks, but Harry asked that he wait a while to accept as he had a few ideas that if they worked out would mean Remus would have employment at Hogwarts that summer.

It was Boxing Day, December 26th, and everyone was to meet at the Weasleys for the group party and to exchange gifts. After one of Molly's meals they were too full to do much of anything except sit and moan. Gifts were exchanged and Bill Weasley got a strange present from Harry, a smooth piece of wood that was very shiny and had metal on the ends and a piece of paper with some Latin on it. When Bill read the first line the piece of wood grew into a staff, a staff of Ironwood with several runes on it. Harry told Bill that the second line on the paper would shrink the staff back down but he would need to concentrate on the size to control it until it became second nature. From Hermione, Bill got one of the special wand holders, like all the Peaks group wore, to hold his staff.

The surprise was when an eagle came and delivered a present for both Harry and Hermione. Hermione got an advanced potions book and Harry got a very rare book on rituals. The Potions book was almost three inches thick, but the ritual book when expanded was six inches thick and had a note that said it was a copy of all the rituals Ms. DuPrie's father had learned and most of them were never published or shared with anyone but her. A note inside the Potions book said these were some of the potions DuPrie had created plus most of the potions that were on the Mastery exam. What caught Hermione's eye were three different potions for use by werewolves, she knew she would let Remus try all three to see if any worked better than the standard potion.

After all the presents were opened and everyone had rested up, Harry caught Bill's attention and the two of them went outside to talk under the guise of allow Bill "play" with his new staff. After Bill had received the standard instruction on staff usage Harry told him that the staff wasn't finished yet and to finish it Harry would need several drops of Bill's blood and Harry would have to take the staff back home to seal it correctly. When Bill asked why the blood Harry told him so the staff would only respond to Bill and not be useful to anyone else. The staff was opened and the blood inserted then Harry had Bill try and call an elemental. Bill was surprised when a small elemental of fire appeared after the third try. Harry explained about elementals and the treatment thereof.

When the two got back inside Ginny asked if Bill liked the staff and was told that it was one of the most useful gifts he had ever received. Bill, at Harry's request, didn't mention anything about calling his elemental in front of his mother. Molly did ask why Harry was taking the staff back and Bill told her it had to be completed now that he had seen that it worked for him. What Bill didn't say was he was to meet Harry the next day in the chamber and the two were going to see Charlie at the reserve.

Harry and Hermione went to the Greengrass house after leaving the Burrow to see Daphne and Tori. Once they were there Harry asked if he could talk with the Greengrass adults alone. Once they were alone Harry explained that he thought he might be able to get rid of most of the scars that Tori had, but it couldn't be done until she was completely healed and back at Hogwarts. Harry then asked if the adults were willing to swear an oath that they weren't supporters of Voldemort and if so he would give them a gift to protect them. The oath was sworn and Harry asked to be shown the main ward stone for the house and manor, there wasn't one. All the wards were cast by either Mr. Greengrass or the goblins. Mrs. Greengrass said they would purchase a ward stone if that was what was needed, Mr. Greengrass started to object until his wife explained a few things to him – like the couch looked comfortable and how their children's safety was more important than money. Before he left Harry asked that Tori not be told about the scar removal as it might not work and he didn't want to get her hopes up.

Bill and Harry met early the next day in the chamber and the two of them went to the reserve, not only to see Charlie but to introduce Bill to the dragons. While there Harry picked up the dragon heartstrings that had been collected from a dragon that had been found who's injuries were too severe for either the elves or Charlie to heal. Harry and Bill went over the wards at the reserve and Bill had a few suggestions or additions for Harry. When they returned to the chamber Bill was given his staff back as it was dry and ready. Harry even showed Bill a few of the techniques that he had learned in his martial arts classes using a staff, or BŌ, and Bill was impressed.

While they were at the chamber Harry showed Bill the cave where the spiders had been and asked if Bill knew of a ward that would prevent anyone or anything from entering the caves. It turned out Bill did know a ward that would work and it was applied to the entrance of the caves. While they were exploring the caves they found a few baby spiders and these were allowed to stay, for now. That reminded Harry of something and he asked Bill if he would like to visit a basilisk, Bill wasn't too sure about that one so Harry said he would do it later alone.

When Harry and Bill returned to the chamber Harry was surprised to find McGonagall and Flitwick there, they were in the library Harry had collected. It turned out that the two professors were looking for ways to protect the students better and thought that maybe these books would have some ideas. Bill returned home and Harry tried to help the professors find what they were looking for without success.

Harry spent the next few days going through the book from DuPrie and found two rituals that were supposed to remove possessions both from the willing and the unwilling subject. Harry wondered if they would work on a Horcrux and decided to try it on the one soul piece he had from the locket. Harry took the soul sphere to his ritual room and went through the ritual, the soul piece was destroyed leaving the sphere intact; now to find the others that he thought Voldemort had made.

With Sirius and Remus along, Harry went to the Riddle estate where he had been taken during the tournament and they searched the area. Back in a patch of dense undergrowth and trees they found an old shack, above the door of the shack was a dried out snake placed in a side-lying "S". The threesome found several traps before they even open the door. Once inside Harry cast a spell to reveal possessed objects, including people, and was directed to an area of the floor. The little shack was full of traps that needed to be disarmed before the three could even come close to the object under the floor, some of them were quite nasty and Remus commented that whom ever had cast them had been a very paranoid fellow. Under a foot of dirt they found the Horcrux, it was a ring. Harry stopped Sirius from reaching in to grab it and told him they didn't know what the ring might do if touched by the wrong person. Sirius seemed to ignore Harry so Remus stunned Sirius to prevent him from touching it. Harry levitated the ring out of the hole and placed a soul sphere around it, Remus said he now felt better as something had been trying to make him take the ring and put it on but whatever it was couldn't quite get past his mental shields.

A stunned Sirius was levitated out of the shack and then Harry used his Lords ring to portkey them to the manor. Once back at the manor Harry took the cursed ring to the chamber while Remus took care of Sirius. Harry prepared the ritual chamber and was ready to see if it would work on a Horcrux that had not been destroyed and the soul fragment removed. Just as the ritual ended Harry heard a very loud scream from within the sphere, but the ring appeared intact. Harry took the ring, still in the sphere, up to see if Prof. Flitwick could detect any other spells on it. Flitwick found two curses on the ring and one of them was very deadly, the other was a compulsion to put the ring on; the compulsion was easy to remove while the other one remained.

Harry thought of something and asked that Flitwick tell him how to do a counter curse on the ring. Once explained Harry used his Parselmouth ability to say the spell and when Flitwick tested the ring the spell was gone. Harry explained to Flitwick what he had done and why, Voldemort was a Parselmouth and had used that ability to keep anyone from countering some of his spells and wards. Now Harry, and Flitwick, felt safe examining the ring. The ring was crudely made of gold and had a black stone with a "S" on it in gold. While holding the ring Harry thought about his parents for some reason and suddenly they appeared in a ghostly form and seemed in pain.

The two adult Potters explained that it hurt them to come to Harry this way and asked what he had done to call them. Harry explained what had happened and James got a thoughtful expression on his face, "Harry that sounds like the stone described in the children's story of The Three Brothers". Harry released his parents and asked what his father had been talking about. Flitwick told Harry that he thought James was referring to one of the stories from "The Tales of Beedle the Bard", a book of children's stories, that told of how three brothers cheated death. Harry said he would have to read that story when he got home.

When Harry read the story "The Tale of Three Brothers" he noticed the symbol at the top of the story, a circle inside a triangle with a bar overlaying, or bisecting, the first two. Harry seemed to remember seeing that symbol somewhere before but couldn't remember where, maybe he would remember later. But could this be the ring talked about in the story? Maybe, it did bring the "ghosts" of his parents to him, but caused them pain so Harry vowed not to use that ring again or at least not think about his parents when holding the ring. So, the Deathly Hallows were a stone (The Resurrection Stone), a wand (The Elder Wand), and a cloak of invisibility and if the story was true, or partially true, then it might be possible to gain immortality if you owned all three. This was something that Voldemort would definitely want, so he could never be allowed to gain any of those items.

**~X~X~X~**

In a partially run-down house Albus Dumbledore was plotting on how to get some of the power potion Snape used to brew for him. If he could get some more then his magic would be back to "normal" strength and maybe he could find his life's goal, ruling both the magical and non-magical world; just like he and Grindelwald had thought in their youth. Thinking about that reminded him what had happened to his sister, Ariana; he had killed her when his brother, Aberforth, had interrupted an argument between Grindelwald and himself. The death had been an accident but it still haunted him, and his brother.

Using an old wand he had once owned, Dumbledore sent a message to some people that a potions master was needed and quickly. It would be best if that potion master was Snape but any qualified master would suit the purpose. Albus was surprised to see in the paper the next day that several potion instructors had disappeared over the past few days, that was curious as he had only sent the message yesterday. Who else would want a potions master bad enough to kidnap one? Surely Tom wasn't back from his death, but he was determined to be immortal. If Tom was back then Dumbledore didn't stand a chance without his "Master" wand, the wand he took from Grindelwald and the same wand Harry Potter had relieved him of just before he was sacked.

~o~o~o~

At Hogwarts, "Minnie may I have a word with you"

"Of course Poppy what can I help you with?"

"I would like to meet with a few of the students once school starts back. When the students were attacked just before the holidays I saw several of them helping the injured and doing a good job of it too. I want to offer some training to these students so they can help again if needed. I've been trying to do this for years but Albus always said no, I'm hoping you will say yes and let me at least try."

"Yes,I believe that would be an excellent idea Poppy, which students did you want to start with?"

A note was passed between the two and each went their separate ways.

~o~o~o~

In a cave somewhere in northern England, just south of Scotland, "Alright you bunch of misfits, you let your selves be beaten by a bunch of kids, you ran away with your tails between your legs you lot are adults they were school children. When the Master returns he will not be happy. But for now we have a job to do, we need a potions master to make the potions that our master needs, and we need one of you to volunteer to cut off a hand the next time we do that ritual. We also need someway to get the blood of an enemy for that ritual. I don't know what happened last time why the knife wouldn't cut that brat Potter but that messed up the ritual and the master isn't happy. I heard through my sources at Hogwarts that Dumbledore has been sacked and even better he lost his wand to that brat Potter, so I say we use his blood to raise our master. But we need that potion master first, so go get one and and use any means necessary to convince him to help us".

**~X~X~X~**

There were only a few days left until they returned to school and Harry felt it would be best that he and his friends didn't ride the Express back, it was apparent that the ministry couldn't protect the students. It had taken almost 20 minutes before any aurors had shown up when the Death Eaters had attacked a couple of weeks ago at Hogsmead. It would have been worse if the attack had come while the train was between Hogsmead and London, then there wouldn't have been anyone to protect the students at all. No, there had to be a way to get all the students back to school without using the train or putting them in danger. Maybe Sirius could come up with an idea, so Harry went to find Sirius or Remus.

Harry found Sirius and Remus in the kitchen at #12, Remus was laughing as he left the kitchen and ran into Harry. "What's up with Sirius? Why does he look so down?" Harry asked.

"I will let him tell you that, you will get a laugh when he does. Now what brings you here, and what has you so serious looking?" Remus replied.

Harry explained what was on his mind and Remus had to agree that an attack while the train was between stops would be bad, very bad. The two returned to the kitchen and put the question to Sirius, but none of them could come up with an idea at that time. Harry left #12 and went to see Hermione, after all it had been a few days since they talked. Harry and Hermione talked for around an hour before she suggested they talk with Alana about one of the problems Harry had thought of and mentioned. Harry changed into his phoenix form and concentrated real hard and a few minutes later the two were in the Headmistress' office at Peaks. The three talked for a while then Harry and Hermione returned to Hermione's house.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that is the Christmas break. What do you think Harry is going to do? I know I left a few questions and most will be answered in the next few chapters, some sooner some later.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 9**

Harry was still concerned for the students safety on the Hogwarts Express when it came time for the students to return to school. Harry and Sirius arrived at the station early so Harry could fix up a compartment for his group. There seemed to be more cars on the train this time and Harry soon found out why, at least one parent was going to Hogwarts with each of the kids – except for the muggle-born. Remus would be riding with Harry's group along with Bill Weasley and Mr. Greengrass, the Bones and Lovegood parents were depending on those three to protect their children.

The ride was quiet and Bill and Mr. Greengrass were surprised to see the compartment after Harry finished "fixing" it, Remus commented that there wasn't much missing and wished they had thought of this idea when he went to school. When the train arrived at Hogsmead Harry saw that there were several aurors at the station to greet the students and watch over them.

Draco Malfoy was upset, this had been the most terrible Christmas he had ever had, he had to stay the entire time at Hogwarts since his mother was in custody and he had no adult to take care of him at home. Draco was in a foul mood and he tried to take it out on his fellow Slytherins, especially the first years. This didn't go very far as some of the others years got involved and Draco ended up hanging upside down in the middle of the common room with many bruises, on the bright side at least he was wearing pants this time.

Since the kids had company on the train they decided that they all should meet up in the chamber that evening. Harry suggested that all the girls do the skin toughening ritual and then repeat it in two weeks and once a month thereafter, and that the guys do it also as he had found out that if done once a month he and Neville wouldn't have been cut. But, this time do it completely nude so there wouldn't be any area that was vulnerable except their heads. What Harry didn't say was that the ritual might help get rid of Tori's scars for her. Those scars had been caused when the Express engine exploded and she was hit with pieces of hot metal all over, the scars on her face were bad.

The girls weren't to happy with the idea until Hermione explained that she would be doing the ritual for them and not Harry, he would do the ritual for the boys. Harry suggested that if any of the girls were too modest that Hermione transfigure them a thong, but it would be best if there was nothing but the hair on their heads covering them. It was decided that the girls would do this on Friday night and the guys would do it on Saturday night, then repeat in two weeks. When Ron asked why do this Harry explained that it would prevent most cutting spells from effecting them and it also added color to them, that was why he and Hermione always had a nice tan.

The next morning at breakfast McGonagall announced that several students were requested to meet with Madam Pomfrey first period and that they were excused from class for the meeting. The list of students was:

Hermione Granger – Gryffindor

Harry Potter – Gryffindor

Neville Longbottom – Gryffindor

Susan Bones – Hufflepuff

Luna Lovegood – Ravenclaw

Daphne Greengrass – Slytherin

The meeting was to take place in one of the unused class rooms on first floor. When the six students entered the class room they were told by Madame Pomfrey that she had been pleasantly surprised by the actions of the students after the attack before Christmas and thought they might benefit from her help learning more and better ways of treating wounded. What she was offering was an advanced course in battle field first-aid, she said what with Harry's tendency to get injured she thought he would benefit from the class as it covered most common injuries. All six students accepted her offer and a time was set for the classes to start.

It was Friday night and all of the girls were in the chamber, the boys had been told to stay away or else, none of the boys wanted to brave the anger of any of those girls – especially Hermione. In the chamber Hermione had all the girls strip completely and those that needed it either used, or had used on them, the shaving charm. Next they helped each other to put their hair up and remove all jewelry so there would be nothing covering them at all. They donned clean robes and walked to the ritual chamber where they dropped the robes and entered. Hermione arranged them in a circle and suggested that they stand and face outward until she said to turn then turn ¼ way to the right so as to get maximum exposure all over. This ritual took an hour and afterward the girls donned the robes again and went to the large hot-tub setup by the elves, who had lots of cold water available. Dobby went and told the boys they could come down but not enter the bathing area.

The next morning some of the boys were very surprised to see how tan the girls were now, especially the Weasley boys when looking at Ginny, Daphne, and Tori. Ron, ever the outspoken one, commented that Tori looked much better without all those scars. This was the first time Tori knew how the ritual effected scars, it removed most of them unless they were spell caused. Harry then explained that was why he had suggested the ritual, to remove as many of the scars from Tori as possible. After breakfast the six met with Madam Pomfrey for their first lesson. "Poppy" was surprised that all the kids knew many spells, except Daphne, related to healing. Hermione and Susan knew more than the rest due to their studies at Peaks. Hermione suggested that Madam Pomfrey help setup a basic potion and bandage kit for each of them to carry and showed "Poppy" a muggle fanny-pack that had been expanded and padded.

The first-aid kit they came up with contained three blood replenishing potions, two pain potions (mild), one moderate pain potion, and at Hermione's insistence two anti-cruciatus potions, since the Death Eaters liked that spell so much. Also included were several bandages and compresses, both dry and medicated, to use as needed; plus several portkeys that took someone straight to the hospital ward of Hogwarts, and tags showing what had been done in the field – spells, potions, or whatever. The fanny-packs were disillusioned so as not to be noticeable until needed.

That night the boys did the skin toughening ritual, there were several comments made, but in a joking manner, about being up to snuff. The most comments were made about Neville's and Harry's build as they were both very well muscled and toned. Harry used the same technique as Hermione with the turning and standing. Once the boys were in the tub, and in swimwear, the girls came down to the chamber to work on spells and study. Harry had a favor to ask of Neville and did so while in the tub. "Neville, you are our expert when it comes to Herbology so I want to ask you to try and find a way to grow a special tree in the greenhouse here and at both our greenhouses. This tree is very rare and I have only found a very small growth of them. From what I have been told they take a very long time to grow and mature, but I would like to have access to more as they make very good sources for wands and staffs."

Neville said he would see what he could do about getting them to grow in a greenhouse and maybe transplant some to the outside. First he would need to locate some to get seeds and such, if Harry could show him where to find them. Harry said they would go to the ones he knew about the following weekend, but warned Neville that these were not able to support any more wands or staffs as they had been used too much for now.

The whole group met up outside the next morning for their run and the girls noticed the tans of the guys and commented that they looked better with some color. Before the group could get started on the run three more people showed up, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson; all of these were on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and wanted to get in better shape (and spend more time with their boyfriends).

While running Harry asked Hermione what she thought about using the time compression in the chamber so the weekends would be longer and more productive for the younger members of the group. Hermione said she didn't see any reason not to use the time compression and it would have been nice if they had thought of this idea earlier, like 1st or 2nd year. Harry explained that he had come across a rune version of the compression and thought it would be easier to use than the type used at Peaks, as this way it would only affect a small area and was adjustable as to length of time effected. They decided to see what everyone else thought about the idea later that day.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville found that they spent more time helping and teaching than actually being students in class. McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout used them often to supplement the classes and to demonstrate spells and techniques. It was during this first month back that Hermione, and Luna, voiced an opinion that it would be nice to be able to use electricity so they could have access to computers like they had at Peaks. Harry started to try and figure out a way to use electricity at least in the chamber for now.

**~X~X~X~**

In a cave in northern England a group of men gathered and planned how to attack the magical government of the UK. So far everything they tried had been small and not enough to do more than make the government upset. The paper had carried the story that Fudge had been removed and Amelia Bones was the interim Minister of Magic, this was the first time a woman had held that post in a long time.

~X~X~X~

It was Monday the 22nd of January and every member of the Wizengamot had received a notice to either be in their seat, give their proxies to the Chief Warlock, be in the hospital, or lose their seat. Sirius called the meeting to order and had the roll called, there were a few empty seats but most of them had already yielded their proxy to Sirius. The ones missing were expelled from the Wizengamot, even one ancient house almost lost it's seat until the member came in saying they had overslept. The first order of business was a call for a vote of no confidence against the now Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, by Madam Augusta Longbottom, this was seconded by Amelia Bones. Fudge tried to object and was told to shut his mouth or be silenced. The vote required a ¾ majority and the final count was over that amount by a nice margin, Fudge was removed as Minister and Amelia was voted in as interim Minister.

The next order of business was to modify the anti-werewolf laws so that now as long as they took the wolf-bane potion they could hold jobs, this was a harder modification than most due to old prejudices. The Weasley seat on the Wizengamot was restored along with several others that had been held by "dark" families as proxies.

It was agreed that now if you were arrested for dark acts your vaults were sealed until after a trial and now the goblins had someone sitting on the Wizengamot to insure that happened. The antislavery laws from the muggle side were instituted and made to apply to elves in that now an elf could choose to serve a house or be a free agent and temporarily bound to the ministry – like the elves at Hogwarts.

Kingsley Shacklebolt was now the head of the DMLE and already had his orders from Amelia, catch all the marked Death Eaters and place them where they couldn't escape. The use of "deadly force" was authorized if deadly force was used by the suspects. Kingsley was to increase the auror force by at least 75% and the funds for that were to come from the confiscated vaults of Death Eaters. The Dementors were to be removed from Azkaban and replaced with goblin warriors and aurors, that would put a damper on escapes and assaults on the prison.

The next thing that was changed slightly was the way wands were monitored, now instead of spending time monitoring for underage magic the system was used to monitor for Unforgivable Curses, if one was detected then a squad of aurors were sent to investigate. Ollivander was notified of the change in the trace that was applied to wands sold to young wizards and witches.

~X~X~X~

In a small manor in northern Scotland an old man was in poor health, his magic was slipping away and with it his life. The only thing that could save him was a special potion, but that potion was illegal to make and very difficult. A single elf appeared and took note of the condition of the man and left again only to appear at Hogwarts in the office of the Headmistress where he reported what he had seen.

~X~X~X~

Bill Weasley was having a ball, he would go out behind his parents home to use his staff so he would become more familiar with it. He also called his newest friend, Blaze the Fire Elemental, so he could spend quality time with him. Bill liked the power he had with a staff and spells that used to take a lot of power were taking much less out of him. He had even improved the wards around the Burrow so they were now twice as strong and in an emergency all it took was a wand touch to erect anti-port-key and anti-apparition around the house. With Harry's help there were anti-death eater wards also, Bill had also placed the anti-death eater wards at the Greengrass house as Harry requested.

**~X~X~X~**

The first weekend of February found Harry Potter in the process of setting up a portable generator in what used to be the spider cave. Being one of the newest models it was supposed to be very quiet, he would soon see how quiet it was as he didn't want anyone hearing it, that is if it worked so close to such a strong magical field as Hogwarts. Hermione's dad had been the one to purchase the generator for them with Hermione's card. Once everything was setup, the tank filled and a heavy duty cord ran into the chamber, Harry hit the start button. The engine just ground for a few second and then caught, the dials showed it was producing power. Inside the chamber several lamps came to life and a specially made computer was turned on. In the spider cave the dials showed very little drain on the generator. Outside the cave several animals noticed the start of the generator but it was really very quiet, if they didn't know what to listen for they might not have noticed it at all. Across the forest at the centaur village the sound wasn't even noticed.

The manual for the generator said it could run for 24 hours on a tank of fuel if the load was small, like it was right now. The next thing would be to see if it could power enough things to make it worthwhile and justify the expense. As more items were plugged in and turned on the load increased to moderate, about 50% of recommended top load. Now they had six computers booting up and at least two lights on in several rooms, the load would be even less if they switched to florescent bulbs. Since the computers came from the US they had to use adapter plugs and they would need some help getting a reliable power grid setup now that they knew the generator worked.

Harry and Hermione were the only ones who knew much about using electricity as they were the only muggle raised ones in the group. It would be their job to explain everything to the others in more detail than they had previously. The experiment had been a success, now they had power and lights without depending on candles, torches, and such other usual lighting devices used at Hogwarts and wizard homes. But, if he wanted to add power to the whole castle then they would need a much better way of generating it.

Harry was surprised when a tanker of fuel just showed up in the cave a few days later, where had that come from and who put it there? These questions were answered when it was discovered that the elves didn't like refilling the generator tank with fuel, it smelled really bad to them and if some splashed on them it burned their skin. One drawback to this method of providing power was that the oil in the engine would need to be changed frequently due to the constant running.

By the end of February Harry had completed the runes needed to try and do the time compression. They had decided that a 7:1 ratio was best to try first, seven hours in the chamber would only be one hour in the castle; or in other words seven hours compression would only take one regular hour. Harry cautioned everyone that once the time compression started they were stuck until it ended and nobody could enter or leave the chamber by any means, the portkey zone would automatically be disabled and the doors sealed. Harry energized the runes and at first nothing seemed to change, then the power went out from the generator. It was later determined that when the time compression started the power draw was too much too fast. The solution was to include the cave in the compression and that would require drawing runes on the cave walls and removing runes in the chamber by the exit doors to the cave.

The next problem was where to sleep if they stayed longer than seven hours. That problem was solved with the help of Rocky as he was able to rearrange the tunnel leading to the cave so that there were now rooms for people to sleep in, furniture wasn't a problem it could be transfigured from other things for now. The chamber was starting to be more of a home than it had ever been before. In addition to sleeping areas they now had a kitchen and storage areas. Hermione, with the help of her parents, had gotten all the computers linked together, they didn't have internet yet and that was not going to be easy to fix. She had talked Harry into letting her add a couple of printers to their setup and had started to enter spells and potions into the computers and print them out.

It was time for a Hogsmead visit and the whole school was excited. On the day of the visit Draco Malfoy was one of the first ones into Hogsmead, he was so relieved to be away from the castle that he didn't notice he had someone following him, a young auror named Tonks. Harry and friends weren't too far behind Draco but could care less, they were in Hogsmead to relax and have fun. Hermione made straight for the bookstore, the twins went to the joke shop, and the rest were all over the place but none of them traveled alone – always in pairs and those that had it were wearing armor under their robes.

Draco made for the edge of town and was soon joined by someone wearing a dark cloak and who looked strangely like Lucius Malfoy. Tonks couldn't overhear what they talked about but did manage to place a tracking charm on the man when she bumped into him disguised as an old woman on her way out of town. If she was lucky then the tracker wouldn't be noticed and the auror force might get a lead on where the Death Eaters were staying. The boy and the man were also being watched by a large black dog that was lying near-by and when the man walked away the dog followed him until the man apparated away.

The visit went well for most of the students and the merchants made a nice profit, at least those who sold to students. The one place that made the most money was the grocer as he had a large order to fill, almost a weeks worth of food for 15 people. But he wasn't going to argue about that. All the food was picked up by an elf, which was a little unusual for this town but it did happen on occasion. What the man didn't know was that all the food was taken to a cave in the forbidden forest and would only last one day.

When she returned to the school Hermione went to see Sirius as she had Remus' wolf-bane potion and also to ask Sirius to have Remus contact her and let her know if this potion worked better as it was from the potion list sent by Ms. DuPrie and was supposed to be better tasting and more effective. Hermione also wanted to ask Remus if he knew where she could get a few werewolves to test another potion that might be even better but was untested; maybe they could try it on some of the werewolves in Azkaban Sirius suggested.

While Hermione was talking to Sirius, Harry was talking to the Headmistress, "Professor, I just wanted to let you know that the chamber will be unreachable all day tomorrow as I am having the landing zone redone to allow for more people at a time. Bill Weasley is going to portkey in early tomorrow and work on it so the rest of us will be down there studying and working on spells and potions. I'm especially interested in watching Bill work and learning how to do this myself some day. I know how much you and Prof. Flitwick enjoy studying the old books found there in the chamber and apologize for the inconvenience. Bill has said that the landing zone will be up and down so we can return when it is up as we wouldn't want to miss many meals."

Bill Weasley arrived in the chamber, along with Sirius, at about 5am. The kids arrived around 9am and the time compression was initialized at 10am for two hours regular time, but would be a week inside the chamber. The first thing Harry did after compression started was to check the power system to make sure it was functioning correctly. The rest of the day was spent working on very advanced spells and potions with Bill and Sirius learning new spells, and Bill learning some basic staff techniques that didn't use magic but used martial arts instead. By the time they returned to regular time it had been a weeks worth of work and both Bill and Sirius were glad to get some rest, Harry had worked everyone very hard and they had learned many new spells and techniques.

* * *

**A/N: The kids are back at school and things are looking up for most of our group. The introduction of electricity to the magical world will take years and not be accomplished completely in this series of books.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 10**

Hermione asked Harry a few days later if he would mind helping her get a few hard to find potion ingredients. Harry said he would of course help. "Good because you are the only one who might be able to get these without breaking a vault. I need some Basilisk venom and some Phoenix tears, but they need to be no older than a year old" Hermione explained. Harry had been putting off going to check on the basilisk and now he had a good reason to go.

Harry used one of the portkey pennies from the cave to go to where the basilisk had been moved. He appeared with a loud pop and soon heard the snake coming; Harry started to hiss out his welcome only to notice surprise in the reply, this wasn't his basilisk but another. As the two "talked" Harry found out that this one was male, where his had been female.

"_A two leg who can speak the language of the serpent, I have heard of you from the one who came before. She says you are our friend and that it is you who sent those nice tasting spiders to us, and so many. She who leads says you might have killed her but didn't and released her from the cave."_

"_Friend of my friend would you know where my friend might be? I would ask a small favor of her. I have need of her venom, a small amount as she gave last time."_ Harry said.

"_Where would you like this venom?"_ a third, much younger sounding voice asked.

"_Be silent young one. You know that to attack a two leg is forbidden by she who leads. We are told that we must not be seen by the two legs else we bring death to our land." _the male replied.

"_What can this two leg do; he can not stand to gaze upon our faces without dieing"_ the young voice added.

"_Be silent young one. She who leads approaches and she would have you for a meal if you harm this two leg. He speaks the language of the serpent. Now go back to your den or face me in combat"_ the older voice said.

"_Friend of she who leads, I put the same question where would you like this venom? I have shielded my eyes so you may look and not die, it is more fun that way. The use of our gaze is for more dangerous creatures, I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the feel of my meal as it slides off my fangs. But this is not for you as she who leads approaches and I would like to hunt more. I offer you a small portion of venom from myself"_ the older voice said.

"_I would accept this offer. Let me bring out the container to hold your gift"_ Harry replied and glanced towards the large snake. This snake was not as large as the one from the chamber but it was huge. Harry had brought three containers, enough to hold over a liter and a half, and had thought to maybe get some acromantula venom while here – the ones left in the cave were too young yet to be of much help.

Harry had the large male snake deposit some venom into the first container, as they finished the basilisk from the chamber came up and greeted Harry and the old male. While the two snakes greeted each other Harry marked the container "MB". Harry then made his request of his friend and soon another container was full and marked "FB", after which Harry asked if either of the snakes knew where the leader of the acromantula was located. Both snakes agreed to show Harry the cave of spiders together.

As the threesome approached the cave Harry could hear many spiders moving around inside in fear. Harry went to the mouth of the cave and called out for Aragog and said he wasn't there to harm the spiders but to ask for a bit of venom. ***You are the one who sent us here to be food for the terrible ones, why should we help you?*** came from inside the cave but it wasn't Aragog. The "king" of the acromantula soon came up to the mouth of the cave and agreed to have several of the spiders to deposit some venom in the container in return for several pigs being sent into the caves. Harry agreed and called Dobby to get the pigs for Aragog. Harry left with a half full container of venom from the spiders – most had been very large but Aragog was the largest. This container was marked "A".

Harry took time to visit with his basilisk and even scratch her between the eyes, she loved that, before returning to Hogwarts. Hermione was surprised at the amount of venom Harry had brought back and asked why the acromantula venom. "You never know what you might need it for, besides if I remember right it is very expensive – especially since most of them are now gone from here" Harry replied. Harry explained that the "MB" container was Male Basilisk venom and the "FB" was Female Basilisk venom, just in case it made a difference to Hermione's potion.

The third weekend in February found Harry, Remus, and Sirius back in the graveyard for the Riddle family. They were there to collect all of the bones of Tom Riddle Sr. to prevent their usage in a repeat of the ritual. All of the bones were removed and it looked as if only two bones were missing, the one that had been used last year in the ritual and one other. What Harry didn't say was that he had found a very old ritual that was used to banish a family member from the family and remove their magic for all time making them less than a squib.

**~X~X~X~**

Nymphadora Tonks was very upset, for one someone had used her full name, which she hated, and second she had somehow lost the man she had tagged in Hogsmead. The man had been easy to track until he just disappeared without a sign. The tracking spell had worked that much was sure as she had followed it for some time. There were only two reasons for her to lose her man, one he had found the tag and removed it, or two he had entered an area where magic was warded or blocked. She was standing in the middle of a field and could see nothing that indicated where the man had gone. Detection spells didn't show any wards that she could detect, there were footprints that just ended in the middle of this field, and there was no indication he had apparated or used a portkey – no spell residue.

When Kingsley heard Tonks' report he was upset at first that she had lost a mark but then he thought "at least she is safe". He had been the one to train this young auror and he was proud of her and the way she turned out. This young lady was a Metamorphmagus, and those were rare indeed, a person who could assume any identity without the use of a potion; all they did was change their bodies to assume the form of whoever they wanted to look like, they could alter their appearance at will. What made things worse was that Sirius Black had been there and confirmed that the man was Lucius Malfoy and he had met with his son Draco. But neither of the two, Tonks or Black, had heard what was said.

**~X~X~X~**

It was Monday and Sirius was in Kingsley's office with an offer, an offer that would be hard to refuse. The offer was to help provide a time compression space where new aurors could be trained in a month's time instead of the two years that it usually took. The catch was that the recruits would really live out the two years and not see their families or friends at all and the ministry would have to provide the space and food. If anything happened to a trainee then it would not be possible to exit the time compression until it ended; and nobody could be told about the time compression, the trainees would have to swear an oath not to reveal anything about the time it took to train. If that wasn't bad enough now Black said it would be better to have a whole lot more room, like a manor, so the trainees could do things outside on their time off training.

Sirius and Kingsley took the idea to Amelia, but she was already aware of it and suggested that they use Malfoy manor if the person doing the compression could handle that much area. Sirius said he would have to ask and just popped away. He wasn't supposed to be able to do that in the ministry, there were wards that prevented apparition and portkeys inside the building except in certain areas. Kingsley looked at Amelia and she just smiled but offered no answers.

Sirius appeared in the chamber and was soon talking with Harry about doing the time compression on such a large area. Harry said he thought it best if they conferred with Alana about using somewhere like Peaks in America to do the training as it took several people to do the same thing for the school each summer. So it was decided that the two of them would go to Peaks, if it was okay with Alana, the following weekend. Besides Harry needed to speak with Alana anyway about an idea he had for next year.

It was the weekend, in fact it was Friday night, and Sirius and Harry were making plans to go to Peaks the next day. The problem was the time changes, if it was 7am here at Hogwarts then it would be around 11pm the day before at Peaks, an eight hour difference. It was decided that the two would leave at 6am, 10pm Peaks time, so as not to keep Alana up too late. It was 545am and Harry had just finished a brief workout and shower, now where was Sirius – he was still complaining about being up so early for the time compression with Bill.

It was 1030pm at Peaks when Harry and Sirius arrived, Sirius had been late getting up, and they just caught Alana before she went to bed. The three talked for approximately two hours before it was decided that Alana could have a place ready by April first, but she would need to know within the next week to get everything arranged. Sirius and Harry thanked her for her time and trouble and left for Hogwarts. A message was sent to Kingsley that Sirius would meet with him at 1pm at Hogwarts in the Headmistress' office, now to convince McGonagall to allow this meeting that would be up to Sirius.

Sirius, McGonagall, Flitwick, Kingsley, and Amelia were all in the Headmistresses office. Sirius had outlined the proposal and what they thought would be needed for someone to place a time compression ward on a place here in England. Sirius explained that they would need about 5 sq. miles of land, a large house or building to use as classrooms and sleeping quarters, food enough for two years to feed the instructors and trainees, and enough portkeys for everyone to get to the site. Then Sirius dropped the big bomb, they had to make a decision in the next two days so he could notify the warder. A second smaller bomb was then dropped and that was that Harry had to be included in the discussion for reasons only he knew.

McGonagall sent for Harry. Harry, Hermione, and Neville showed up very shortly after. Harry took the lead this time instead of Hermione, which was unusual. "I assume that Sirius has made it clear that any decision must be made in the next few days. The reason I asked to be included is because I have an additional idea to propose, I propose that after the auror training class has finished the site be used to setup a summer school for students that need help with their studies. This school would be run each summer during the month of July, it would be 9 months of education in 30 days time. What I am about to tell you is partially known by Sirius and Amelia, the three of us here have been doing this same thing for several years and have already taken our NEWTs and each of us have at least one Mastery level certification. I suspect that the Headmistress and Prof. Flitwick already suspected something like this since the three of us have been so far ahead of our year for several years. I have never seen any of the places that have been confiscated from the Death Eaters but if any of them is in anyway similar to Potter Manor then they would be perfect. Since we three have had the advantage of using this type of school before. I suggest that the six of us, the Headmistress, Amelia, Mr. Shacklebolt, and the three of us, go visit each of the places to see if any are acceptable and able to be modified quickly. Of course I will require an unbreakable vow from each of you about what you learn today".

Flitwick was quick to make that vow and McGonagall was quick to follow, Kingsley was a little slow but at the urging of Amelia he made the same vow. Harry suggested that to maintain secrecy they leave from the chamber as he had something to show them there. Kingsley was full of questions but told to hold them for now by Amelia, he was even more surprised when Amelia and Sirius each grabbed an arm and they appeared somewhere else. The others appeared right behind them on a red square. The first thing any of the guests noticed was the lights and lack of torches and such, Kingsley wasn't given the full tour but was shown the major areas including the computer room. When asked how this was possible, Hermione's answer of "Magic" got a laugh from the guests. Harry lead the six outside and they apparated away to the first place.

The first place visited was the LeStrange estate, there they looked around but the place had been torn apart by the ministry and would take too much work to make useful. The next stop was another Death Eater estate and it too was a mess. In all they visited six places before coming to Malfoy Manor. It was here that Kingsley finally asked how the students kept up with him as they were too young for apparition. All three showed him their International Apparition Licenses, to say he was surprised was an exaggeration. Everyone but Harry went inside, Harry said he was going to look around outside for a few minutes, to look the place over. Once everyone was inside Harry disappeared under his cloak and found a quiet place to transform into his phoenix form and take a quick look at the whole estate from the air. After a few minutes Harry knew this was the perfect place, there was a stone fence around the estate that could be used as a barrier to hide the place and place runes on to prevent anyone from entering without permission.

When Harry just appeared next to Hermione without a sound, Kingsley jumped and went for his wand only to find three wands pointed at him and McGonagall, and Amelia, laughing. He had never seen wands appear that quickly, not even from one of his aurors. Harry asked if Kingsley knew where to find the ward stone for the manor as he wanted to change some of them. Kingsley lead them to the bottom level and showed them the ward stone, nobody had been able to approach it. Harry studied the stone for a few minutes then said he would need a Malfoy to fix this and he would return in a few minutes.

Harry returned with Draco Malfoy, who was bound, gagged, and blindfolded. Harry held up a hand and motioned for everyone to be quiet. Draco's hand was placed on the ward stone and all the protections dropped, then Harry did something and Draco fell to the floor. Harry started doing some very complicated hand gestures and Kingsley tried to ask a question when Hermione just placed a hand over his mouth and whispered that Harry was changing the wards and didn't need to be disturbed or they could explode. Harry took a good 20 minutes to finish then placed a second stone on the main ward stone, the stones flared and then settled down.

Harry said he would be back and grabbed Draco and disappeared again. Hermione told them that he was probably returning Draco to Hogwarts. When Harry returned he confirmed that he had indeed returned Draco to Hogwarts and made sure that Draco didn't remember a thing about the trip. "Lucius Malfoy had blood wards up so I needed a Malfoy to release them. Once that was done I was able to change them and I added the anti-Death Eater ward just like the ministry has in place. I suggest that the estate be placed under the Fidelius Charm if it is to be used for the training site" Harry said.

When Kingsley said he didn't think it was legal to just take over the estate Harry referred them to the idea of Eminent Domain, where a government could take over land and buildings for the public good and pay the going rate for it and the owners had very little choice in the matter, especially minors like Draco. Amelia got an evil smile on her face and so did Kingsley. It was decided that Malfoy Estates were to be taken for the public good and used to train aurors, Hogwarts would be given the option of "renting" the place two months out of the year for a small amount. Then Kingsley said that he didn't have any idea as to what the cost of the time compression would be, Harry told him not to worry about that it was taken care of.

When they got back to Hogwarts McGonagall asked how Harry had managed to get Draco away from the school and back. "Professor, I just apparated to him, stunned the two great lumps by him, bounded, gagged and blindfolded him then took him to the house. When I brought him back I placed him in his own bed and left a memory that he had taken a nap because he got bored" was Harry's reply.

Things were a little unreal that night at supper, it seems that Draco Malfoy had been found in his room asleep in a dress and holding a muggle smut magazine. He had been found by one of the prefects and the word was soon out about how he was found. Now nobody wanted to sit close to Draco, not even Pansy, and someone had taken a picture and placed copies of that picture all over the Slytherin dorm.

A letter was sent to Alana on Monday telling her that the ministry had agreed to pay her for her time and effort on the time compression setup and that a bit of land was being readied for her to work on. A drawing was included showing the layout of the property and the boundaries. Amelia and Kingsley had decided that the new aurors would do most of the work with help from a few elves who had elected to leave their families or lost their families due to arrests. Harry sent 20 elves from the Potter estate to help out.

All the furniture was removed and stored, except what could be used, a few buildings were removed and others constructed as needed. The upstairs was turned into "dorm" rooms while the downstairs was turned into classrooms and office space. The dungeon was redone so it was more spacious and a potions lab installed. Food and supplies were being stockpiled for the long term, most was under a stasis charm to keep it fresh. The Wizengamot had been notified and had no objections to all this as it was costing the MOM very little money as compared to building from scratch.

* * *

**A/N: What is Harry up to now? How will Lucius react when he finds out? How will Draco react? Should there be an article in the paper about what is happening? Lots of questions but I don't have any answers at this time.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 11**

Luna Lovegood had been keeping a low profile since the year had started. The Ravenclaw quarters is where she still stayed so her clothes wouldn't go missing even though Harry had shown her how to prevent that. She even still took advanced classes with the fifth years instead of with her fourth year classmates. She had been surprised when she had been asked to take the more advanced healing classes, and she enjoyed them, but her academic goal was Magical Creatures. Not necessarily the made-up ones she talked about but the unusual ones that hadn't been seen in many years, many thought to be extinct. Luna laid there in bed thinking about the past summer, the attack on Ginny in the States, and the attack on the students this past Christmas.

The previous summer had been very interesting, she had been able to take more classes in the mind arts and had been told she seemed gifted in those techniques or disciplines. Her instructor had said she was better than Harry Potter in some things, her mental shields seemed to be natural and not constructed. She had finally gotten to the point where she was allowed to use the small computer to do Arithmancy calculations which made it so much easier. Her spell crafting classes had been very rewarding and she had learned a lot, but Hermione still did better at taking a spell apart. Now Harry had fixed it so she could again use the computer here at Hogwarts, even if it was only down in the chamber, and her homework in Arithmancy was easier to complete. She hadn't had to ask Hermione for near as much help this year, and to think she had graduated from Peaks. She had talked with the career counselors at Peaks and found her "calling" so to speak, she was going to become a med-witch specializing in the mind and also continue to look for the "lost" creatures of the world.

Luna's thoughts drifted back to the attack, if you could call it that, while they were at Disney World Ginny had been attacked by some muggle boys. Why had they chosen Ginny and not her? Sure Ginny was better looking and better developed, but Luna thought she had a good personality. Luna's mother hadn't been very heavy on top but she did have a nice figure, at least to Luna. Luna wondered if she could have handled those boys without getting hurt. She knew as much magic as Ginny, maybe even more as she had extra training. But everyone seemed to forget about her.

Luna thought about the last two big events at Hogwarts, the werewolf attack and the attack just before Christmas. She had been involved in both events, she had covered Harry and Neville's backs both times. Sure she had been hurt the last time but it was just a few minor cuts and bumps. She had even saved one student from being seriously injured thanks to her shield that deflected a Reducto curse.

Luna also thought about mates, she wasn't really interested in a mate right now. Sure Harry had Hermione, Neville had Susan, and Ron now had Daphne. Luna had at one time thought about getting together with Ron but he proved to be so shallow, and all of that couldn't have been caused by the spells found on him this past summer as he had been that way for much longer. No, a boyfriend wasn't needed right now, she enjoyed the company of the others to much to tie herself down with a boyfriend. Much less think about a mate for life, though Harry was really nice looking and kind to her.

**~X~X~X~**

In a cave somewhere in south Scotland or possibly northern England Lucius Malfoy felt something strange, the wards at Malfoy Manor had changed, Lucius could no longer feel the wards like he should. Then he realized what had happened, Draco had taken over the wards! It had to be, as Draco was the only one who could take over the wards since he was the only other male Malfoy besides Lucius. Suddenly Lucius was knocked to the ground as the wards completely left him. Lucius felt himself panic for a moment the wards hadn't just transferred to Draco they had been destroyed. Was Draco helping the ministry, had he turned against his own father? The Master had to be informed of this event, there were plans to occupy Malfoy Manor and use it as a base. But if Draco had gone over to the ministry then this could mean much trouble.

Lucius had just spoken to Draco a few weeks ago and everything seemed fine. Draco had told him about his mother being arrested and that the manor was empty and unattended. Draco had been upset since he had to spend the Christmas holidays at school. They had worked out a way for them to communicate, Lucius had told Draco what to look for in his mail so he would know when to meet again. But the change in the wards seemed to indicate that something had happened, either to Draco or because of Draco.

~X~X~X~

Elsewhere in England at a private school a young boy about 15 years of age was in trouble. He was facing three bigger boys and they wanted his money. Dudley wasn't the fat slob he used to be, he was in much better shape physically. But mentally he was a mess ever since that attack by those Dementors and finding out he wasn't as "normal" as he and his dad thought. Dudley had magic! Just like Harry and mom, he just didn't know how to use it and it sure would be nice to have that use right now.

Wait, he used to be a bully so he knew how they thought, if he put up a big enough resistance then they would leave him alone. If he was able to take out the leader then nobody would bother him again. One of the boys reached out to grab Dudley and got a surprise, instead of backing away as usual this kid attacked. The fist to the jaw of the larger boy was a surprise, the fact that the boy fell to the ground was even a bigger surprise to his partners. The second boy was a little more cautious in his attempt to gain control of this kid, then his world exploded in a world of pain and his leg gave out. The third boy, the leader, decided that maybe this kid was worth recruiting into his gang; the offer was refused. Before the third boy could get his head on straight one of the instructors came up and pinned him to the wall while telling the younger kid to go get some help. This wasn't good, this time he might be expelled or worse sent to the police.

The Headmaster and two more teachers came up as well as the school nurse. Anthony, the gang leader, watched as the nurse examined the two boys on the ground. The first boy had a cracked jaw, the second boy might require surgery to his knee, and the boy they had tried to rob needed a plaster on a skinned knuckle. That was when Anthony found out that cameras had been installed and school security had seen the whole thing. The first two boys were taken away in an ambulance, Anthony got to ride in a small car with the little blue light flashing on top. Dudley, he was taken to the infirmary to be given something for his nerves and to have his parents called.

~X~X~X~

In a small house in a suburb of London Petunia Dursley answered the phone. She was told that her son Dudley had been in a fight and that the nurse thought it best that he spend a few days at home to get his nerves calmed down. Dudley wasn't injured, except for a skinned knuckle, but his nerves were very frayed. Petunia didn't have any way to get the boy home since Vernon was out of town at some conference; so she called Lucy, but Lucy wasn't home and would be given the message when she returned.

Petunia went over to see Mrs. Figg, she had been there when Dudley was attacked by those Dementors and had seen them. Maybe she could contact someone to help, but not Dumbledore. Mrs. Figg was able to contact the Headmistress who sent Lucy over to see what was wrong. Lucy and Petunia went to get Dudley and Lucy promised to check him over right well as soon as they got home.

Once back at #4 Privet Dr. Lucy checked Dudley out and could find nothing to worry about until Dudley said something about nightmares. Dudley said he had been dreaming about the Dementor attack and it scared him more each time. Dudley was given a Dreamless Sleep potion and put to bed, Lucy told Petunia that she would see if maybe Dudley could be seen by a healer from St. Mungo's since Dudley was classified as magical now.

**~X~X~X~**

Alana was due at any time, since it was the last week of March, to start the setup of the time compression wards. Harry had gone to fetch Alana and several people were surprised when instead of just one person Harry returned with two people, Alana and Grimstead, along with a small amount of luggage. The arrival point was the chamber, from there they would go to the site and Alana would return to the chamber each night to rest. Alana and Grimstead were introduced to those who didn't know them, like McGonagall and Flitwick, and they placed their luggage in their rooms before being given a brief tour of the chamber.

Once everyone was ready, everyone going to the site were given portkeys and away they went. The people going were McGonagall, Alana, Grimstead, Harry, and Hermione; Harry and Hermione were going so they could learn how to do the wards, and to compare those to the ones they had done in the chamber, so they could re-enforce them if needed or repair them. When they arrived they were met by Kingsley and Amelia, the group took a quick tour of the boundaries so Alana and Grimstead would know what was where. The control for the time compression was to be installed in the main office.

The setup would take almost all week due to the size of the project, plus Grimstead had an idea that he wanted to try, he wanted to try inserting a variable time control so the ward would have more than one setting. The first day was spent deciding where certain runes would have to be placed on the boundary walls of the site as they had to be spaced very exactly. The second day was the start of the insertion of the runes, these runes would be "painted" on the inside wall of the fence for now and once every thing worked then the runes would be carved into the stone in a semi-permeate way.

By the fourth day they were ready to test the setup, the test failed due to an incorrect rune which was replaced but took time to locate. Once the bad rune was replaced, or corrected, the test passed. Now it was time to try Grimstead's idea to add a variable time span to the construction. It took several tries but by the end of the sixth day the setup worked as far as they could tell, the time span was adjustable from 2:1 to 30:1 (compressed time to real time) using switchable runes. Alana and Grimstead had asked if they might be allowed to stay over a few days to see how they could help Hogwarts and see how the school functioned under McGonagall.

On Sunday March 31st all the new trainees were gathered at the training site, the compression would be started at 1201am on April 1st so everyone had to be in place before that time. That night at supper Alana and Grimstead were introduced to the students of Hogwarts as visiting professors from the States. Most of the students though Grimstead was disabled since he had to use a walking stick, but they would soon find out he wasn't and the walking stick was a staff. The two visitors were put up in guest accommodations at the castle for the length of their stay.

Alana wanted to spend time in Transfigurations of course but Grimstead just wanted to walk around and see many of the different classes. The students in Defense were privy to a real treat; Grimstead faced off against Sirius in a mock duel, Sirius lost as he had nowhere near the power of Grimstead and his staff. In seventh year potions Grimstead challenged the students to breakdown a powder and tell him what it contained and what it could be used for. Slughorn thought this was a rather nice challenge, but soon changed his mind when he couldn't answer the question himself and was told that the compound had been done by a fifth year student at Peaks. Slughorn was amazed when Grimstead gave him a 30cc vial of basilisk venom and a 10cc vial of acromantula venom to "play" with.

It had to happen, Draco ran afoul of both visitors to Hogwarts. The first incident was at breakfast when the mail came, Grimstead had been walking past when Draco opened a letter and Grimstead heard the incantation Draco used on the letter. Draco jumped when Grimstead's hand was placed on his shoulder and he was told that it must be a fairly unimportant message since it used such a poor spell to reveal it. Draco made the mistake of pulling his wand only to see it broken by Grimstead. When Grimstead said that the wand was not very powerful Draco got even angrier. Grimstead said he would have the wand replaced, but the young man should know better than to pull a wand against an unknown opponent.

Draco insulted Alana while in Transfiguration class who had taken over the class for McGonagall as the Headmistress had something to do. Alana had been talking about animagus transformation when Draco was heard to say something to the effect that she didn't have a clue about the subject. "Mr. Malfoy, since you seem to think you know this subject so well please come to the front of the class and enlighten us by repeating your statement and showing the class the correct way to transform. I'm sure you can do better than myself since I've only been teaching this subject for 30 years and have more than one form" Alana said. Draco was stuck, if he repeated his statement he was in trouble and if he didn't do as requested he was in trouble.

Draco walked to the front of the class and repeated his statement but not the same way. Alana then did something unexpected, "I know this is Transfiguration but I think this is the perfect time to show you a little charm work. This charm has the same effect as most so called 'truth' serums or potions. The biggest difference is that it doesn't take as long to prepare" Alana said as she waved her wand. Draco suddenly stood up straighter and repeated his original statement, much to his embarrassment.

It was during this visit that Grimstead got to spend time with Harry and Hermione to catch up. Both Grimstead and Alana had been very surprised to see the kids using electricity in the chamber, and they missed it in the rooms upstairs. Grimstead was especially pleased to see the ritual room Harry had access to and even used it himself a time or two. But, now it was Sunday and time for Harry to return the two visitors to the States.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, the training site is up and running, Hogwarts has had a visit from another Headmistress and the results of that visit will be in the next chapter.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 12**

Alana and Grimstead's meeting with the staff of Hogwarts to pass on their impressions had just started. They both knew that the Hogwarts staff would not be pleased with their findings, Alana opened the discussion, "Headmistress, and Professors, over the past week my companion and I have sat in on all the classes offered here at Hogwarts. Now I must admit that I have visited here before but it has been a long time ago. There doesn't seem to have been much change since my last visit, except you finally got rid of that ghost Binns in History of Magic. Neither Mr. Grimstead or myself want to step on anyone's toes here, but we have come up with a few observations that we would like to voice on a course-by-course basis:

Divination – I personally would remove the course completely, you are either a seer or you aren't. But, I understand that some student like it as I've heard it is an easy way to increase your OWL or NEWT scores.

Herbology – We both like the way Prof. Sprout uses students to help out the ones who have a difficult time and since this is what we consider a core course it is very important that the students learn the basics. We were both impressed with Mr. Longbottom and feel he might just be someone who can gain his Mastery in that subject. As to suggestions, well use more up to date plants and information and focus on the most usual plants in the first two years.

Charms – Another core course that has a very knowledgeable instructor, it might help if you added a senior student to assist with the slower students. Both Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger seem to be well ahead of their class or year and provide excellent help when they are in class and have been observed helping others frequently. We both thought it a shame that prof. Flitwick hasn't attempted to gain his Mastery.

Potions – This is the one class where the most help is needed as this is another core curriculum course. After talking to several students from all the houses we have heard that the instructor you had the past two years was well liked and very knowledgeable, her classes were described as fun and educational. The current instructor is knowledgeable but spends too much time 'collecting' students for their usefulness to himself and trying to gain more wealth for himself than actually teaching. This lack of teaching was especially noticed in first year classes. Once again we would suggest that advanced students be used to assist the instructor.

Defense – A very critical core course on level with Charms, since Charms can be very useful in defending yourself or family. Both of us are acquainted with Mr. Black from the time he spent in the States working for the MBI and he even taught a few classes at my school. Once again we would suggest that the primary instructor be Mastery certified. We both like the way Mr. Potter works with this class and you could use a few more like him to help out in classes so the instructor can focus on teaching more in depth and more modern techniques.

Runes – This course is also behind the times as far as the curriculum goes, part of that is that your ministry hasn't allowed the country to move up to modern technology level and you don't have the use of computers to help the students to work with Runes. The addition of computers and having a Mastery Certification is the only suggestion we offer here.

Arithmancy - This course is also behind the times as far as the curriculum goes, part of that is that your ministry hasn't allowed the country to move up to modern technology level and you don't have the use of computers to help the students do calculations. The addition of computers and having a Mastery Certification is the only suggestion we offer here.

Transfiguration – The fifth core course and again a critical one for Defense. Here we again find that the instructor should have a Mastery Certification and can't understand why you haven't sought that certification yet Headmistress. You would be someone who would sail through that process, you seem to have forgotten more about Transfiguration than I ever learned, and I just got my own Mastery last summer. This was another class where we saw students helping students, and again it was Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger. This school should be proud to have such students here, I wish I had more like them at my school.

Care of Magical Creatures – This course should focus on the more common creatures and not so much on the dangerous ones. Prof. Hagrid knows so much about so many creatures that it is a shame he hasn't been afforded the chance to complete his education. The only drawback to his teaching is his lack of public speaking skills and that can be remedied by his taking a few speech courses and maybe a few writing courses.

History of Magic – A necessary course but grossly out of date. We would suggest more modern knowledge and less focus on eons ago. The students need to know how magic came to be but they don't need to focus on all the wars in yours and our past. The course should mention the witch trials from the States as that was important to all magical history. We feel that the course should include some overview of different types of magic also.

Mental Arts – This course isn't even offered here and should be as Occlumency is a vital part of Defense, if you can't hide what spell you are thinking of casting then your opponent has the advantage. Every student should have learned basic Occlumency as it helps organize the mind of the individual and makes the retention of knowledge easier.

Silent and Wand-less Spell casting – This should be encouraged as this is how we all start to show our magic. In the youth it is called 'Accidental Magic' and it should be built upon that natural ability.

Medical Magic – I understand that this is a new course this session and it is limited to just a few students for now. When you council your students about what they want to do after school, any who show an interest should have lessons in basic medical magic. That will give them a head start on their future studies. I personally think you should have a basic first-aid course as an elective starting second year.

Muggle Studies – This should be a required course of study for all first and second years who were raised in the magical realm. Your muggle born and muggle raised already know most of this, but your magical raised know nothing about the outside world or the technology in use. This course should also be brought more up to date and taught by someone that actually has extended experience in the muggle world.

Magical Devices – This is a course that is very close to the heart of my companion since he is a wand and staff creator. He comes to my school at least once a year and does seminars on this just to show that there are more devices than wands out there to help us use our magic better. I am sure most of you heard about the duel in Defense; one of the reasons Mr. Black lost was he couldn't match the power of Grimstead's staff, another reason was the use of silent casting and multiple spells at once.

Astronomy – While the instructor appears to very knowledgeable this is another of those subjects that is stressed too much. I asked this question when I took this course and ask it again, 'What use is it and how does it effect magic?'. No instructor has ever been able to answer that question. I can see it being required first year as a broad knowledge subject but after that make it an elective.

Like I said Mr. Grimstead and I do not mean to step on anyone's toes but thought that our observations might help your school reach the level it used to be, as far as a leading educational institute."

The staff of Hogwarts sat there stunned at some of the observations and suggestions. It was Flitwick who spoke first, "You mentioned that several courses were what you call 'core courses', why did you refer to them in that manner?"

"A core course is a course that is relevant to almost everyone and every day life. Those courses, Charms, Defense, Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration are used by witches and wizards every day. Think of all the magic we do in a day's time, also Defense is the only area that uses all of the other core courses. These are the basics of magic, the very foundations of what magic is and does" Alana answered.

"You keep mentioning our having a Mastery Certification in these core subjects. Just how hard is it to get that certification and how long does it take?" McGonagall asked.

"Some take a whole year to acquire and Potions takes at least two to three years to acquire. That is if you have little life experience to apply. Defense is the most difficult as it requires three Masters to do the certification in the practical exam. The practical exam that was held this past summer for the single applicant was three hours long and not only was the applicant exhausted but the Masters were also, both magically and physically. The reason that potions takes so long is the time to brew some of the potions and the fact that the applicant must also show how to gather all types of ingredients and you can't do that in a single year or over the course of a regular session. I would say that the Headmistress could have her Mastery by the start of July this year if she took the written exam while your students took their OWL or NEWT exams. The practical only requires one Master to certify so that wouldn't be a problem. In fact, with some luck, a Charms or Herbology Mastery could be taken also and completed in the same time as I know a couple of Masters that might be willing to do the practical exams." Grimstead said in answer to McGonagall's question. This was the first time he had said much during the whole meeting.

"In fact I could certify the Headmistress right now if she had completed the written exam since I have observed her teach, and that is a requirement that a master watch you teach the subject to students to see how well you relay the information to students." Alana added.

The meeting lasted for another 20 to 30 minutes and then was ended. After all the others had left Grimstead asked if he could examine McGonagall's wand to see if it was as good as he thought, it was. The three talked for a few minutes more and then the two visitors left to return to their rooms and pack for their trip tomorrow.

~X~X~X~

Meanwhile, down in the chamber Harry and Hermione were enjoying a little "private" time, as were Neville and Susan. Ron and Daphne were in the library studying for a test that was due Monday in potions. Since it was close to the first of the month Hermione gathered up all her courage and suggested she and Harry do the skin ritual together that afternoon. Harry was surprised but agreed; he was even more surprised when Hermione dropped her robe and was wearing a very small thong and nothing else. "You may look but no touching, and we need to do something about your clothing – it is way too much" was all that Hermione said as she handed Harry a thong that was just as small as her's. Harry said the guys usually did the ritual totally nude but he had opted for the trunks due to Hermione being there, then Hermione made an offer, she would do the ritual totally nude if Harry would. When the ritual ended it was two slightly sore people who walked to the hot tub only to pass Neville and Susan going toward the ritual room, Harry suggested that they wait at least an hour to allow the room to cool down. It was later learned that Luna joined Neville and Susan in the ritual and they all did it all natural.

Harry and Hermione only spent four hours in the tub then it was Neville, Susan, and Luna's turn in the water, and Luna dropped her robe before Harry even got out of the tub. Harry being a red-blooded male had a problem, and Hermione noticed that problem and helped cover it up. Luna didn't even spend the energy to blush. It was decided that Daphne would do the ritual for the other girls, after Hermione taught her correctly, and the three Weasley boys would do their own ritual. Harry decided that he would get Bill to lead that ritual as he still didn't have faith in the three Weasleys to not screw it up.

While Neville, Susan, and Luna soaked, Harry and Hermione talked about what had just happened. Harry apologized for his "problem" but Hermione just said if he hadn't had the problem he wouldn't be a normal male, she was just glad Neville didn't drop his robe. "Evidently, you found Luna appealing and if Susan had dropped her robe would have found her appealing too" Hermione said and laughed at Harry's expression. "All of us girls have compared ourselves to each other in our own minds and I supposed that you guys have done the same thing, knowing the twins and Ron they even compared the girls out loud and wondered what we had to show that they hadn't seen yet. Although after that swimming episode there wasn't much left to the imagination, especially about Daphne" Hermione added. Harry just nodded in response.

~X~X~X~

At what used to be Malfoy Manor, the auror recruits were settling in still even if it had been quite some time since they started time compression. The classes were murderous and the instructors were not showing them any mercy. The one thing about this training session was if you washed out you were stuck there until the time compression ended, and that wasn't nice. One room in the dungeon had been spelled so they could practice apparition to get as quiet as possible, they would also have a two to three day refresher after compression so they could go further than across the room.

This was the first time the auror trainers had a healer on site instead of just sending any injuries to St. Mungo's. Since they had a healer on-site they included first-aid classes for all the recruits, especially the ones who washed out of the regular training. Alana and Grimstead had suggested they include a "medic" in each group to deal with injuries while on assignment. What the "medics" didn't know was they would be almost qualified as med-witches when the compression ended and could apply at the hospital for jobs if they washed out of auror training. Out of fifty who started, five had washed out already due to the physical training – which most wizards and witches weren't used to doing.

~X~X~X~

In a cave somewhere close to the border between Scotland and England, a group of men and a few women were getting low on food and other supplies. Several had tried to call their house elf but only one responded and he couldn't do much. He was sent to get food and never returned, the same elf was now working at Malfoy Manor – the new auror training facility – but would not or could not reveal where his master was located. The group didn't realize that their problem was easy to solve, all they had to do was clean up and go into muggle towns and buy the food and supplies they needed, except for the magical items like potion ingredients. This thought never occurred to them so they went hungry and cold. The group had managed to "recruit" a couple of Potion makers but they weren't as good as Snape had been and had to be watched closely.

~X~X~X~

In a run-down house in northern Scotland five people in black cloaks and white masks appeared, there was a brief battle between them and the old man who stayed there, the old man lost as he was weakened. The old man was taken to a cave and there his blood was added to a large caldron sitting over a fire boiling. Out of the caldron rose a misshapen "man" with snake like facial features and no hair anywhere on his body. After someone helped him dress he asked why they had used the old man instead of Potter as ordered. He was told that Potter never left Hogwarts except at term breaks and that the ritual did call for the blood of an enemy, so they used the old man. There were several of the cave members who were rolling on the floor in pain after that.

When the "man" asked why they were in a cave instead of a house he was told that all the houses had been confiscated by the Ministry of Magic and all were now unable to be found. When a meal was served the "man" got angry again due to the poor food and nothing to drink but water, warm water at that. The man said that in two months they would attack Hogwarts students as they left to go home for the summer, many of the group shook their heads as they remembered the last attack they had tried at Hogwarts.

* * *

**A/N: Old "Moldy Shorts" is back and he is very upset at the situation he finds. Hogwarts now has a second opinion of their educational situation and it isn't much better than the last evaluation. Harry and Hermione, Neville and Susan are getting closer together, but what is Luna up to?**

**This didn't turn out like I expected but it turned out as it turned out. I hope to do better with the next chapters.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 13**

Several days after the incident and Headmistress McGonagall was finally notified that Albus Dumbledore was missing and the house showed signs of a struggle, aurors were sent to check on the house and to see if they could find out what had happened. Somehow the news leaked out and the next day the paper proclaimed that Dumbledore was missing and assumed dead. The news of Dumbledore's death was a shock to Harry and the group, while the old man had been instrumental in causing Harry much distress, he didn't wish the old man any harm.

Several articles in the muggle press didn't make it into the Prophet and so most of the magical world wasn't aware of several strange incidents, food stores broken into, people found dead for no apparent reason, or the unusual storms north of Scotland's coast – out in the North Sea. Anything that Hermione's parents noticed wasn't mentioned as they didn't make a connection either.

It was at this time that Harry noticed that his scar was causing a small discomfort, but he didn't think much about it at first. Harry linked the discomfort to all the studying he had been doing and all the practice in spell-work. It was when he tried to clear his mind that he noticed that the feeling in his scar was similar to that he experienced when Quirrell had been around and when they had tried to resurrect Voldemort last year.

As Harry lay in bed clearing his mind for Occlumency exercise he again noticed the dull discomfort and tried to track it down. It was coming from that area he had walled off long ago and used as a place to hold intruders in his mind; the area that had contained a piece of Voldemort's soul, a piece that had been mostly removed by Lucy when she found it. There seemed to be a weak connection here still, so Harry tried to follow that connection back to the source – no such luck. Harry strengthen his mental barrier and the discomfort became less, so he left it that way for now.

When the group got together Harry mentioned the discomfort to Hermione as they encouraged the others to work on their own Occlumency shields and to keep them strong. After a short review of the techniques used for Occlumency Harry and Hermione started to really teach the subjects that they had mastered. The two skipped the subject matter that the rest knew and reinforced what was new and or misunderstood. Tori had several private lessons from Harry as she was the one most behind due to her age. The twins worked with everyone with potions since they were the most comfortable and knowledgeable with that subject. The professors soon noticed a difference in the work of several students in class.

It was during a break that Harry, Hermione, and Neville were talking about Horcrux that the idea came up that they might have been made out of items from all the Founders. This seemed to make sense since the ones they knew of were from the different houses, diary, locket, and ring from Slytherin – not to mention Tom Riddle himself. Harry counted himself as the item from Gryffindor, that left Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff to look in to. "Now I think the items would be something special, like the ring and locket, from each house. What items would meet that criteria?" Harry asked.

It was Luna who offered a suggestion, the missing Ravenclaw Diadem, it had been missing for a very long time and thought to have been stolen by Helena Ravenclaw, Rowena's daughter. When Susan heard what the threesome were talking about she suggested the Hufflepuff Cup, a heirloom of Helga Hufflepuff. Then Luna suggested that they take a look at the bust of Rowena in the Ravenclaw quarters to see what the diadem looked like. And Susan said there was a portrait of Helga in the Hufflepuff quarters and it showed the cup; both were viewed.

It was Dobby who remembered that he had seen something like the diadem in the "come and go room", but when asked if he could show them he told them it was a Hogwarts secret. Lady Hogwarts gave Harry, Luna, and Susan the instructions to find and open the room. They went up to the seventh floor and paced back and forth in front of a picture of trolls doing ballet. A door appeared and when they entered they found a large room full of junk, this must be where the elves put stuff when they removed it from the castle or when they found stuff and nobody claimed it. It took the threesome a while but they finally found what they thought was the diadem sitting on a bust, the possession spell showed that the item most likely contained a soul piece. Harry used the charms Flitwick had shown him and found a compulsion charm on the diadem, which he removed.

The diadem was taken back to the ritual chamber and with Hermione, Luna, and Susan watching Harry removed the soul fragment and placed it into a sphere to be stored. The diadem was them placed in another sphere and taken to Flitwick to be examined more closely. When Flitwick examined the diadem he found a second spell on it that seemed similar to the spell on the ring so Harry tried removing it with Parseltounge – the spell was broken but it took a lot of power from Harry. All of the "kids" were glad they hadn't touched the diadem, that Parseltounge spell was nasty. It turned out that this was the Ravenclaw Diadem and it was placed in a very secure display for all the school to see, after Harry placed a few wards on the case in secret.

The "Fab Five" returned to the "come and go room" and searched it again just in case there was anything else there that might be of use, such as the Hufflepuff Cup, but found only junk, or so they thought. There were several old books located that Hermione went through to see if any of them were useful or contained helpful information. She found an old Potions book that someone had written in the margins many notes, and some of the notes were alternate instructions for potions. Inside the front cover was an inscription that said the book belonged to the Half-blood Prince and the book wasn't that old about 20 years at the most. What really got Harry's attention was a note signed Lilly telling the owner to basically drop dead.

Also amongst the old books was several books on Alchemy, two of them had what appeared to be Dumbledore's initials in them (APWBD). Alchemy hadn't been taught for many years so these might be of use for further study, the last alchemist Hermione could think of was Nicholas Flamel who, along with Dumbledore, had created the Sorcerer's Stone that caused such a mess their first year at Hogwarts.

**~X~X~X~**

It was a week before Easter and Voldemort decided that it would be the right time to attack the Ministry of Magic and retrieve the prophecy that he had been chasing for so long. He created a portkey to take several of his minions to the Ministry only to have them caught up in the new wards when they landed. It was only two days later he found out why they never returned when he saw the front page of the Daily Prophet saying that the new wards had caught several Death Eaters when they tried to enter the Ministry. Voldemort's anger was evident as he inflicted pain on many of his followers. It was time to announce his return so he lead a raid on several families that had refused to join him in the past, or had fought him. One of the places he tried to attack was the Burrow, but the wards caught up the first Death Eater as soon as he landed.

What kind of wards were these, they sure hadn't been in effect when he left. The goblins were known to be neutral so he sent one of the LeStrange brothers to try and get some funds from Gringotts, another Death Eater was caught in the same type of wards. It was Malfoy's comment about the wards at Hogwarts that got Voldemort's attention; what were the same wards doing at so many locations, and who was responsible for them? And why was he so weak?

~X~X~X~

Rick Green was smiling, he had finally been given permission to return to England. He had been recalled to the States just after Christmas due to an increased amount of cases for the MBI and the powers that be wanted a more concise report of what was going on over in England. Rick had given his report and the caseload had been reduced after it was discovered that the cause wasn't in the US but coming from south of the border. A few simple changes in the border wards and the problem was contained, now the mundanes could deal with their drug problems without magical help.

**~X~X~X~**

Most of the students weren't going home for Easter Break this year due to fear that Death Eaters might attack again. But Harry and Neville had agreed to take a trip to Peaks and from there to go to where the ironwood trees that Harry knew about were located. Harry had changed into his phoenix form for the trip and flashed the two to Peaks, from there they flashed to the trees.

"Well Neville here are the only Ironwood trees that I know about. I really hope you can find a way to get them to grow in a greenhouse plus increase their rate of growth. If there is anything I can do to help just tell me what you need" Harry explained as they looked at the trees.

Neville did something Harry had not seen before, Neville just sat down and laid his hands on the tree that appeared to be the largest. It was a few minutes later when Neville got up, pulled a few simple tools from his pack and then started to dig up a very small plant. Once he had the plant dug up and placed in a magical pot Neville said it was a very young tree that had just started to grow and would be an excellent one to transplant to a greenhouse. Neville also explained that he didn't think the tress had grown here on their own, someone had transplanted these here a long time ago and possibly forgotten them.

"You know Harry it would be nice if you had another bird form, then we could fly around and look to see if maybe there were other stands of these trees somewhere. A phoenix isn't too common and would cause people to notice us. From what I have been able to determine this tree usually grows in the desert and not up here in the mountains. Maybe Alana knows where we could possibly find more of these or could give us a lead as to where to look." Neville said.

The two boys transformed again and went back to Peaks to speak with Alana and maybe the Herbology instructor about where to look for more of these trees. It turned out that the name Ironwood was used for several different trees all over the world and some were not as dense as the ones they had looked at first. The best lead they received was to look in the southwestern part of the US near the border, about 200 Km west of Tucson. Harry flashed them to the area, or as close as he could going by the map Alana had shown him, and they did indeed find some more of the trees. While they were there Harry got the chance to see up close a desert side-winder and added that form to his list of snake forms. While he was there Harry collected more wood for wands and staffs from a few of the trees and Neville collected several seed pods.

Harry and Neville returned to Peaks and enjoyed a snack with Alana, then Neville went to talk with the Herbology instructor as she had more knowledge about American plants than Neville and might be willing to try and grow the trees here in the Peaks greenhouses. Harry and Alana talked about the time compression Alana had setup for the aurors training site. After a few hours the two boys returned to Hogwarts and brought everyone else up to date on their trip, after the update Harry stored his wood supplies.

* * *

**A/N: Several people have asked about Rick, this chapter explains where Rick has been and why he has been absent from the story. **

**Please be kind and comment**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 14**

April 27, 1996 was a Saturday and all the "kids" were down in the chamber except Harry, he was in the Gryffindor quarters looking through the books left behind by Godric Gryffindor. Harry was looking for anything that might be of use to defeat Voldemort besides the rituals to remove him from the family and remove his magic. In order for the rituals to work Harry had to know for sure that Voldemort had been resurrected, even though he thought that by now that had occurred he had to be sure. From what Harry had read on the ritual it would take a bit of time to complete and then more time for it to be effective, time he might not have if he waited until the last minute to do the ritual. Harry was pleased to see that Reggie had been very diligent in arranging the books, that made it much easier to search for the material he wanted.

Meanwhile down in the chamber Hermione was instructing the others in advanced Transfiguration and Charms, or at least advanced for their level or year. Hermione would teach for two hours and then they would take a break and either Neville or the twins would take over and instruct in either Herbology or Potions for one to two hours, then lunch. Hermione didn't notice the cat sitting in a dark corner watching her teach, if she had she might have recognized it as the animagus form of Prof. McGonagall. If anyone else noticed they didn't say anything about the cat sitting in mid-air about eight inches off the floor and nobody seemed to hear the slight chuckle coming from that area either.

Hermione was covering the animagus transformation for those who needed the extra instructions, namely Susan and Luna since they were both able to transform already. This also had the interest of Tori as she hoped to become an animagus too. Hermione was asked a question that usually didn't come up in regular classes, "Can you change your form, or have more than one form?". This came from Tori.

"Yes, you can occasionally change your form to something different than what you found at first and you can have more than one form. A couple of the older members here have more than one form or shape. For instance, I found my first form rather easily and have found that I can assume most other forms of the same animal" Hermione said as she changed into her primary owl form then back and into another owl form, this one from the states. "While my primary form is found here in England, my second form is found in America so it isn't as noticeable there. If you become an animagus then Harry, myself, or Luna will tell you how to attempt to alter your form, but only after you are stable in your primary form" Hermione continued.

Next Hermione went into Charms and started to explain the Invisibility Charm and how it could be very useful if used just before a battle or fight. She demonstrated the wand movement and the incantation used then said it was usually a silent spell, which meant that you didn't have to verbalize it. The next thing Hermione did was to ask Tori to be a subject for the spell as she was still not advanced enough for this one. Once Tori was in front of the others Hermione told her to stand very still and not to wander around once the spell was cast. Hermione made Tori disappear and then brought her back. Tori said it felt like someone had poured a thick liquid over her the first time and that the liquid just fell away the second time. "Did you have to hit my head so hard?" "Just wanted to get your attention, but no you don't have to hit the object hard at all – just a touch. Now I'll show you a variation of that spell that I think works better and uses less magical energy. This one also can't be removed by anyone but the caster and will cease to work if the caster is knocked out, or killed." Hermione replied.

Once again Hermione used Tori as a demonstration model, she just reached out and laid her hand on Tori and Tori disappeared, no wand movement at all. Over in the dark corner the cat looked at the space under it and seemed to have a question on its face, another chuckle was heard – but it was very quiet and didn't carry. At the front of the room Hermione mumbled something and Tori reappeared. As Tori sat down Hermione asked the others to practice the first spell on each other for a few minutes to see if they could accomplish the desired effect. While the others practiced Hermione told them that this spell could be disrupted by the Finite Incantation and that if she caught either of the twins using the spell to spy on girls she would make sure they regretted it. This statement seemed to make the twins rather down.

After a few minutes of practice all of the "students" had done the spell-work assigned and had been able to turn someone or something invisible; even Tori had managed to make her notebook disappear, which was a surprise to Hermione and the ones in the corner. "One of the drawbacks to an invisibility charm is that if someone throws water or something similar on you you will be outlined and caught. If you are caught out in the rain you will be seen, or at least your form will. In an old movie in the muggle world they used flour to find an invisible man, that would also work on us. If you lose an item of clothing it will remain invisible but what is under it won't, so be careful. This isn't true of the second spell I showed you as it effects everything you are wearing, as an example if Tori had removed her shirt while under the second spell we would never know until the spell was canceled. At the same time if she put on her robes then the robes would be visible, they would just look empty" Hermione explained.

"There is one other way to become invisible, and that is to use an invisibility cloak like Harry's. But, not everyone has one of those, or at least not as good of one. The 'Headless Hats' that the twins came up with are an example of that type of invisibility and I imagine they used something like the first spell to accomplish that effect. But as they will tell you it doesn't last very long. There are several people who offer so-called invisibility cloaks but they are a waste of time and money" Hermione continued. Hermione then gave them the incantation for the second spell and had them practice some more. Once again Tori was able to do the spell, she just couldn't cancel it when the time came. Hermione had to use her staff to cancel the spell and make Tori's notebook reappear and even that was a strain on Hermione's magic. Hermione then explained that since it was her spell design she had been able to counter it, barely.

Hermione let the others take a break and it was decided that Fred and George would take the next lesson time for Potions. While the "kids" were off to the restroom and getting something to drink the cat "floated" over to the target zone and port-keyed away. Once the two were back in Prof. Flitwick's office they compared notes on what they had observed in the chamber. "I say, Ms. Granger is doing a very good job with Charms and she even taught me a thing or two. I had never heard of that second invisibility spell and she said she created it. If that had been one of my classes I would have to award her at least 100 points for her spell-work. Even young Miss Greengrass was able to do the spell-work and she is several years behind the others. I would have liked to have seen Mr. Potter teach them defense, that would be very interesting judging by Ms. Granger's efforts" Flitwick said.

"Yes, I was very surprised at the knowledge Ms. Granger showed in Transfiguration. I will have to find out how she was able to change her form. That was the third time I have observed her instruct and she shows me something every time. The only fault I have found with her teaching is she gets too involved with the theory and tries to explain too much at once. I had a chance one time to observe Mr. Potter instruct Transfiguration and he does a much better job of explaining things without confusing 'his students' or overloading them. You know that Sirius has Mr. Potter doing most of the teaching in Defense and from what I have heard he is teaching things to fourth years that they usually don't get until late in their fifth year and some of the things he teaches the sixth and seventh years isn't even taught usually" McGonagall replied.

In the Slytherin dorm Draco was looking through the Prophet and came across a small article in the very back pages that said that the ministry had confiscated several of the properties of known Death Eaters and put them to use for the Ministry. This made him wonder if they had taken over Malfoy Manor, come to think about it he couldn't remember where the manor was located. He just knew it had existed when school started but couldn't remember how to find it now. But if they had confiscated the manor how had they gotten past the wards, some of those wards were blood wards and only a true Malfoy could touch those.

Up in the Gryffindor quarters Harry had not found what he was looking for in Godric's library. It was time to check out the Slytherin quarters to see if maybe Salazar had anything to offer. Harry transformed and flashed to the Slytherin quarters and started to look through the library there. Reggie had rearranged this library also, just as he had done for Godric's, so it wasn't long before Harry came across the books he hoped would hold the answer he sought. Harry looked up from one of the books to rest his eyes and it was then that he saw the tapestry. Harry didn't remember seeing this tapestry before, it showed the descendants of Salazar Slytherin and the lowest, or last, entry was Tom Marvolo Riddle. But a very thin line lead to his own name on the same level and Harry's name was just a little fainter than the rest. _"That must be because I'm the magical heir and not the physical heir"_ Harry thought.

Harry was startled by a voice behind him, a voice that sounded very stressed and weak. Harry spun a round and didn't see anyone there. **"So, you finally discovered my family tapestry. The one who came before you never even found these rooms, he only found my chamber. But, have you found that which he never found, my other office where I kept all my most secret discoveries? I would say not as if you had I would have known and been able to speak with you sooner."** the voice said. Harry noticed that the sound came from a painting of Salazar behind the desk.

"I didn't know your portrait could speak or I would have spoken to you sooner. This second office is located in the chamber I would guess. Would you be willing to tell me how to find it?" Harry asked.

"**As my magical heir I can not keep that from you, but if this Tom Riddle should have asked I would have revealed its location at the time. But, not now and not to him. He is a disgrace to my line, while I wanted to limit the ones allowed to study here I did not intend to kill anyone just because they had no magic. In the end my friend Godric showed me the error of my thoughts, that and Rowena and Helga's badgering didn't make my life any better. You can speak the language of the snake or else you would have never been able to open the chamber or these rooms. Go to my chamber and speak thus in Parseltounge"** with that Salazar explained what Harry would have to say to find and open the hidden office. It took some time for Harry to learn the long phrase that had to be spoken in the chamber.

Harry flashed to the chamber and went to the area he had been told about, it took three tries before he was able to get the office area to show itself and allow entry. Once inside Harry saw that the area was a mess, the dust must have been at least six inches deep and it covered everything. Harry called Dobby and asked that the office be cleaned as quickly as possible. It turned out that Harry had to call each of the chamber elves before they could enter the area and it appeared that nobody not of the Slytherin line would be able to enter. That would make Hermione upset as she would want to examine all the books and parchments as quickly as possible. Harry asked that the elves take special care to clean the portrait of Salazar Slytherin as it was like the portraits in the Heads office, semi-sentient.

The elves found that magic was of little use in this area and they would have to do the cleaning manually and that meant that it would take longer. Harry offered to help with the lifting and found that his magic worked well; then he had an idea, Harry called Windford to gently remove all the dust he could without disturbing any of the papers, books,or parchments there soon appeared a nice mound of dust and dirt in the main chamber – this the elves could take care of with magic. As soon as most of the dust was gone from the portrait it woke up.

"**What is this, you command an elemental? Even I, Salazar Slytherin, never mastered that feat. You young man are truly deserving of your magic. Would that more had your power and abilities. I must speak with Godric, Rowena, and Helga of you. Tell me young man what might be your name?"** Salazar asked.

"My name is Harry Potter and I am the direct descendant of Godric Gryffindor as well as the magical descendant of you Sir. It would be nice if the other founder's portraits were able to speak. We have in this chamber all four heirs, well three physical heirs and one magical heir. Maybe we just need to speak with the other portraits to get their attention. I will suggest that very thing to the others. Would you explain why elf magic won't work in here, it would make the task of cleaning this place much easier." Harry replied.

"**I never considered that elves had enough magic to do much of anything. They were not very magical when I was alive. In fact we didn't use elves at all, we hired squibs to handle the cleaning and such. Pray tell me how those lights work, I don't sense any fire – not even magical fire – from them. When I created this chamber I set it so that only my magic would work here, or rather only Parseltounge magic.**

"Well, Sir, since you have been dead for around 900 years it might be difficult to explain how the lights work. They work on what is called electricity, and I don't know enough to explain how electricity is made, but you can compare it to lightning since that is as close as I can come to explaining it. The electricity runs through a wire, a very thin piece of metal, and goes to the lights where the heat of another piece of metal makes the light. I am not sure what has happened to elf magic since your time but now days wizards and witches use elves to do the housecleaning, cooking, and whatever is needed. The elves here at Hogwarts are very helpful, but most of the students don't ever see them as they stay hidden. We, the heirs, have several elves that work down here in the chamber to keep it clean and take care of us. Each of us have a personal elf that is responsible for our needs, and there are several elves that help keep this place clean in general. If you don't mind, is there any way to allow non-Slytherins inside these rooms and to allow the elves to use their magic in here?" Harry answered and asked.

Salazar directed Harry to a certain book and that book explained what spells had been cast and how to remove them, using Parseltounge magic. When Salazar asked about the basilisk, Harry explained what he had done with it, Salazar seemed pleased that the snake had been taken care of so well. It was while they were talking that Salazar asked about a particular painting that had hung in the head suite. Harry said he didn't remember seeing that painting there but would see about finding it, Salazar said he would see if he could still access that painting and if so he would let Harry know where it was to be found. This painting allowed all four founders to get together in the same place and converse. Harry finally bid Salazar farewell as he was getting hungry and needed to use the restroom.

After using the restroom and having something to eat Harry went to the Gryffindor Quarters and spoke to the painting of Godric, surprisingly it spoke back in a very slow and dazed manner. It took a while but soon the painting was speaking much better. Godric explained that it had been so long since there had been much magic in this area that the painting was very low and almost out of magic. Godric also asked about the painting Salazar had inquired about and the paintings of the other two founders. Harry said he would have the two heirs speak with the paintings and he hoped that it wasn't too late to revive them.

Harry finally gathered up enough courage to tell Hermione about the new finds, and as he expected she was upset she couldn't enter the new set of rooms in the chamber for now. Hermione calmed down some when Harry told her that he had a way to fix that but it would take some time since the instructions were written in Parseltounge and he wasn't as familiar with reading that, or writing it but intended to correct that problem as quickly as possible. Luna and Susan both left for their own founders quarters to speak with the portraits in hopes of reviving them.

It was Sunday before all the paintings were activated and the group portrait had been found in the "come and go" room that the elves used to store things inside. It was decided that the portrait would be moved to the chamber so all the heirs, and the rest of the group, had access to it. They would tell McGonagall about the portrait later once Voldemort had been taken care of once and for all. It was Salazar that came up with a translation spell that translated the Parseltounge to English, Old English but English all the same. By Wednesday Harry had the restrictions relaxed enough so the elves could do enough magic to give the rooms a very thorough cleaning and Reggie was able to rearrange the books and parchments in a more sensible manner. Hermione spent much time in the new rooms looking over the documents and books.

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**A/N: Well all four painting are now awake and the group portrait has been found. McGonagall and Flitwick have been exposed to some of the advanced teaching that the group has had and now they have a few suspicions. I think Flitwick said it best when he said it was good when the instructor learned from the student.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 15**

Saturday May 4th was a day full of surprises for many people, the first person surprised was Draco Malfoy when he received a letter from his father asking why Draco had turned the wards of Malfoy Manor over to the Ministry. Draco had not a single clue about what his dad was asking. The next surprise was the headline in the paper saying that "**He Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned**", the article underneath related how Voldemort and several Death Eaters had been seen when they attacked Diagon Alley early Friday night. There had been 10 reported deaths associated with the attack, three of those deaths were aurors, before the attack ended with Voldemort and crew port-keying away. The target had been Gringotts Bank, but the response by the Goblins had been more than what was expected. The article said that two Death Eaters had been caught up in some of the new wards and captured, those captured were the two LeStrange brothers.

Harry read the article with much interest as this proved that Voldemort was back in a body and subject to the rituals to remove him from the family and to bind his magic. Another thing Harry noticed was the mention of an unknown person who appeared and caused the Death Eaters many problems by shielding the bank and calling a fire elemental to battle the Death Eaters. Harry had a strong suspicion as to the identity of that person, Bill Weasley.

The next person to get a surprise was the Headmistress in the form of a letter from the ICW saying that they would be the ones conducting OWLs and NEWTs at Hogwarts this year per a request from the inspection team that had visited the school last. McGonagall noticed that a copy of this letter had been sent to the ministry also. Enclosed was a note saying that Mastery exams would be offered in Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology if any one wanted to take them – both written and practical. The exams would start on May 27th and if other mastery exams were desired then to let them know by May 20th at the latest so that arrangements could be made. McGonagall had a notice posted on all the house boards about the testing dates.

The next surprise was when all the Slytherin students turned green and silver, including their hair and skin. Shortly thereafter each house turned their house colors, Gryffindors turned Red and Gold, Hufflepuffs turned Yellow and Black, and Ravenclaws turned Blue and Bronze. It appeared that only the professors were exempt from this prank. Harry, Luna, and Susan heard Hogwarts giggle but nobody else heard that. That was when Bill Weasley was lead into the Great Hall and up to the Head table.

All the Weasley kids, along with Harry and Sirius, were called into the small room beside the Great Hall to meet with Bill. After speaking with all his brothers and his sister Bill drew Harry and Sirius off to one side to tell Harry that they had found an item that appeared possessed in the LeStrange vault. Bill and Ragnok had thought it best not to try and transport that object, but to leave that to Harry. Harry agreed that it might be best if he did the transporting in a soul globe. Harry left Sirius to explain to McGonagall, while he took Bill and himself to the bank via portkey.

Once they arrived at Gringotts Harry found that the LeStrange brothers had not revealed much information to the aurors and that Rabastan LeStrange had been given to the Goblins since he had tried to break into the bank. It seemed that the Goblins had much more luck persuading him to talk and a transcript of that "talk" had been made available to the ministry and a copy was also given to Harry. Harry was sure he didn't want to know how Goblins persuaded their prisoners to talk. Griphook who took both Bill and Harry down to the vaults.

When Harry saw the object he recognized it as Hufflepuff's Cup and when he cast the detection spells it showed the cup contained a soul fragment. Harry contained the cup in a sphere and carried it out of the vault, much to Bill's surprise as he hadn't been able to move it with magic. Bill was invited back to the chamber to watch the Horcrux be destroyed, but first Harry wanted to speak with Ragnok about an idea he had.

When Harry and Bill arrived back at Hogwarts they weren't surprised to find the whole group waiting, including McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sirius. Harry explained about the Horcrux and its significance much to McGonagall and Flitwick's horror. The three Professors and Bill were invited to watch the removal of the soul fragment by Harry. Once in the ritual room Harry asked that Bill and Flitwick both shield the others while Harry did the removal. The ritual went as planned and soon the soul fragment was in its own sphere and placed with the others.

After the ritual the two professors, McGonagall and Flitwick, were told that Harry, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Susan, and the Weasley twins would not be taking OWLs or NEWTs as they had already passed them elsewhere. Harry told them all what Rabastan LeStrange had told the goblins and what thoughts he had about the information. What it boiled down to was that Voldemort planned to attack Hogwarts before the end of the school year and that he was upset that most of the properties of the Death Eaters had been taken over by the ministry and they had no place to hide or access to money. Harry didn't mention what he had talked to Ragnok about or the plans they had made.

McGonagall and Flitwick both admitted that they had suspected that the group had received extra training but had not thought they had already taken their exams. The three Masters weren't mentioned at this time as Harry wanted to surprise the instructors after the school year ended (Hermione and Neville had agreed to this). The Hufflepuff cup was given to McGonagall to give to Prof. Sprout.

It was after the professors had returned to Hogwarts that Harry got a chance to speak with Hermione and bounce a few ideas off her regarding the upcoming battle and the rituals. Harry explained that once the rituals were done it took up to twelve hours before they were fully effective unless the subject was in the room at the time or he had some part of him or a possession of his. Both agreed that Voldemort being there wasn't a good idea as they had no idea as to his strength. Hermione asked why Harry couldn't just remove access to Voldemort's magic like he had done with Bella. Harry explained that with Bella he had permission of the head of family to remove her magic, with Voldemort he couldn't get that permission since he was the last living member of the family.

Hermione asked about Umbridge and Harry explained that it was Hogwarts herself who had bound Umbridge's magic and not him. "But, Hogwarts explained later that she was only able to do that because Umbridge was in the castle and had violated several rules set down by the founders regarding teachers" Harry continued. Harry explained that if he did the rituals too early then Voldemort might not attack and just send his troops instead. They had to get Voldemort, in order to end his reign of terror once and for all.

On Sunday Amelia showed up and was brought up to date, she had read the transcript provided by the goblins and wanted to station aurors at the school. Harry told her that the aurors would be better used to cover the rest of the country as Hogwarts was safe enough for now due to the wards, and a few surprises Harry had planned. Harry revealed one of the surprises, two hundred elves had been receiving training and would pop to Hogwarts at a moments notice and these were in addition to the elves at Hogwarts at all times. When Hermione heard this she objected until Harry told her that all the elves had volunteered and had not been ordered to fight. Neville asked if that included the elves from the Longbottom holdings and was told Harry didn't know if the Longbottom elves had been trained also.

It was a few days later when Hermione asked Harry "What about using one of the soul pieces in the ritual?". Harry thought about that idea, he hadn't ever considered that thought. Harry knew from talking to Salazar that he had knowledge of the ritual, so Harry would need to talk with Salazar again to see what his thoughts were. Harry ended up talking to all four of the founders and between them they agreed that it was worth a chance, but suggested that Harry wait until it was the night before the end of term to try the ritual. That way if it took the full twelve hours to take effect they would have a little time to spare and prepare. Harry just wished he had a way to get Voldemort to attack at a time of their choosing instead of waiting for Voldemort to decide.

It was Rick who came up with an idea that might convince Voldemort to move the timing up somewhat. "What if you let it leak out that there was to be a major meeting of the senior ministry officials from several different countries there at Hogwarts? You could say it was decided that Hogwarts was the safest place due to all the protections around the castle." was Rick's suggestion. The idea was passed on to Amelia, Sirius, and Kingsley to see what they thought of the idea, they were undecided until Rick called back and said he had an additional idea. The second idea was an offer from the US to send around 30 of their own forces to aid in the battle but only if their presence could be kept a secret. Harry assured him that keeping them a secret wasn't a problem, the troops would have to provide their own sleeping arrangements in a cave Harry knew about close to Hogwarts. The addition of 30 troops from the US was the deciding factor for Amelia, who promised to get in touch with the French Ministry to see if they would help out by sending at least a couple of representatives to aid in the subterfuge.

The answer France sent back was a real surprise, they would send representatives plus 30 aurors to join the hidden troops. McGonagall was finally brought into the conversation and agreed to let them use Hogwarts as a meeting place as long as they were sure that the students would be safe. Now everyone wanted to know how to get the troops in place without Voldemort finding out. Harry told them that he had a way but all of the US forces would have go to France first and then to the cave, France was going to get about 30 visitors in a group.

An announcement was made at Hogwarts that the representatives from the US, France, and England would be meeting at Hogwarts on May 18th and 19th and the students were told that meals would be served in the dorms for breakfast and lunch those days. The students were asked to keep the noise at a low level so as not to disturb the meeting or officials. It did not go unnoticed that Draco sent a message out shortly after the announcement, as well as a few other Slytherin Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs students.

A few days before the meeting Harry was in the French Ministry, along with Kingsley, to meet with Rick and his "troops". Harry explained that they would use portkeys to get to the cave where they would be staying until after the meetings. When Harry saw the amount of equipment the Americans had brought he told them they would have to limit each trip to five people and baggage. Once they arrived at the destination they would need to exit the landing zone quickly so the next group could arrive, but not to leave the landing area until he arrived to show them where to camp. It was while the troops were getting grouped to travel that the French aurors arrived and Harry had to explain things again, this time in French and with the help of an interpreter. It was decided that the Americans would go first and Rick would be in the first group.

The first group to arrive was surprised to find Hermione waiting for them and she was adamant that they get off the red square as quickly as possible. As each additional group arrived they were directed where to stand so as to be out of the way of the incoming groups. The last group to arrive contained Harry the few remaining people and their baggage. Once everyone had been accounted for Harry showed them to the old "spider" cave and cautioned them that to try and re-enter the main cavern would be hazardous, Harry also warned them about the few remaining spiders. Rick and the leaders for the two sets of troops were taken outside so they could see where they were and where the attack most likely would come from.

Later that night Harry, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Susan met with Rick where he was given the tour of the chamber. He was pleasantly surprised to see what had been done by the "kids". The fact that they had power and computers were the biggest surprises, especially when told that it was planned to upgrade Hogwarts to use electricity and computers as soon as possible. Rick was told about all the horcruxes that had been found and destroyed, that was when he asked if the fact that they were still contained might not defeat the purpose. "If they are still contained then might they still serve the same purpose? Could they not still anchor Voldemort here?" Harry had to admit he hadn't thought about that, so they all went to have a talk with the founders portrait. After much discussion it was decided to completely release all the fragments but one – that one would be used in the ritual to remove and bind Voldemort's magic. It was Rowena who suggested that they release the fragments on "Holy ground" just to be safe, not that she was religious but any help was good.

After the talk the group just sat around and talked about what had been going on with all of them. It was at this time that Rick asked if Harry thought that 60 plus aurors would be enough to defeat Voldemort's forces. Harry revealed that there would be more than just the 60 plus aurors, he had 200 Goblin warriors and 200 plus elves to help out. When Voldemort's forces showed a signal would be sent and the Goblins would port-key in behind them and their magic users would erect wards to prevent anyone from leaving (except goblins and Harry). It was also explained that after the goblins erected their wards the only port-keys that would work are the port-keys to take people to the medical area and the wards around Hogwarts would take care of any death eaters that appeared, and the wards would be changed back to painful until after the fight.

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**A/N: Okay, everything is set for the big surprise; now if Voldemort will just cooperate. If everything goes as I have planned then the next chapter will finish out the year, if not then "OH WELL"**

**Please be kind and comment**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hogwarts Year 5**

**Chapter 16**

Following a quick breakfast the next morning Harry, Sirius, Bill Weasley, and McGonagall left Hogwarts to go see the parents of one of the Ravenclaw first year muggle-born girls – the father was a pastor of a small, but old, church in northern Scotland. Having McGonagall come along was a good thing as most of the people they met spoke Gaelic, Harry, Bill, and Sirius didn't where, of course, McGonagall did. The minister was reluctant to speak with them at first that is until Harry showed him a letter from his daughter, he was much more agreeable then. Once they explained what they wanted to do the pastor said he would allow this only if he could be present and they had to be discrete. This would cause problems if some of the townsfolk saw the practice of magic, or witchcraft.

Harry made sure to place a repelling charm on the church entrances before they even entered the sanctuary. The pastor spent a good thirty minutes preparing the area by saying many prayers and sprinkling with "Holy Water", just in case. Sirius, Bill, and McGonagall stood ready to cast the containment spell again in case anything looked out of order when Harry released each soul fragment. Everyone was nervous as Harry canceled the first spell, but the fragment just disappeared with a scream. By the time the last fragment was ready most of the group had calmed down somewhat, that is until the fragment gave the loudest scream of all – a scream that shook the room and rattled the windows. Harry commented that maybe that was the one he should have saved for the ritual since it seemed the strongest.

Once all the soul fragments had been released the sanctuary was "blessed" again, just in case, by the pastor. The group from Hogwarts joined the pastor and his wife for lunch before returning to the castle. It was during lunch that Harry asked the question, since the Hogwarts Express only went to London and Hogwarts how would the young girl get home when school was out? The answer was that either she would use the floo or one of the teachers would bring her using side-along apparition until she was old enough to apparate herself at the end of her sixth year. After lunch Harry, Bill, and Sirius took a few minutes to fly discretely around the area to see the lay of the land and to see some of the beautiful scenery.

Upon returning to Hogwarts Harry made a point of looking up the Ravenclaw girl to deliver a letter from her parents that he had brought back with him and to thank her for all of her and her family's help. Harry then learned that there was another girl that might be coming to Hogwarts the next year from the same hamlet. If things went as planned then Harry would make sure the young girl was offered a chance to visit before then and maybe even come to the summer school.

That evening the representatives from France, England, the United States, and a surprise representative from Italy arrived with Amelia Bones would representing England. The French representative turned out to be Madame duBois – used to be DuPrie, the US representative was someone Harry had never seen before and was Rick's boss, while the representative from Italy was another member of the ICW team that had visited Hogwarts previously. After supper McGonagall summoned Harry to tell him that the Italians had another 30 aurors to add to the ones already there if Harry could arrange transport from the same location in France. Once all the new aurors were transported and shown where to sleep, Harry, Rick, and each of the other two commanding officers got together to decide where to place all these men and women the next day.

It was during this meeting that Harry let it be known that 200 Goblin warriors would be joining the party also, Harry didn't mention the elves as those were a surprise for everyone. It was decided to place the aurors in an "U" shape between Hogwarts and the death eaters while the goblins would close the "backdoor" when they arrived. The aurors at the top of the "U" would be the strongest ones from all three countries and the sides would be a mixture of the rest. That gave them 30 people on each side of the proposed route while the goblins would take care of the warding and attack from the rear. Harry made it a point to remind everyone that all portkeys and apparition would be disabled except for the medical portkeys to the hospital wing.

It was almost 11pm when Harry finally got away and went to start the ritual to bind Voldemort's magic and remove him from the family line of Slytherin. Hermione, Bill, Neville, and Rick were allowed to watch and be there in case something went wrong. The ritual took about an hour and when Harry reached the end there was the sound of a gong heard from inside the chamber and a flash of green and silver light seen by all present.

Harry, Hermione, Neville, Susan, and Luna were in the Great Hall just after 7am for breakfast, they were all sitting at the Gryffindor table together. The Weasley twins joined them shortly, closer to 715am and their presence was enough to dissuade any comments by other students. Daphne and Tori both came by to say good morning before they sat down at their house table, the two Greengrass girls would be keeping an eye on the Slytherins, especially Draco and his crew. By 815am all of the "Chamber Group" had finished breakfast and were on their way to their assigned stations. Harry, Hermione, Neville, Susan, Luna, and the twins went to the chamber where they met Bill Weasley who would be the link between Hogwarts and Gringotts' Goblins.

It was 830am when Dobby popped in dressed in his version of US BDUs. Hermione asked where he had gotten the idea for his "uniform" and was told that it was from watching the men and women with Rick from the US. Dobby reported that elf scouts were in place and would let Harry know when the "bad wizards" showed up and where; these elves were hidden all over outside on the immediate grounds of Hogwarts. Fred and George both left as they had a few last minute things to do before it became busy and hectic. Rick came in and said that the aurors were already in place and hidden, all of them were ready for a little action – he just wished that they had had more time to work with the Italians before everything started. The aurors were setup in three man teams, two would attack while the third shielded – they would switch up as needed so everyone had a chance to attack.

It was 1030am when one of the elf scouts popped in to say that Voldemort and his Death Eaters had arrived and they had some strange creatures with them. Bill Weasley port-keyed out to Gringotts, the twins returned and each had several containers plus their Beater's bat and broom. The twins would be doing an aerial assault while keeping themselves invisible. From upstairs an alarm could be heard warning the school that the attack had started, Harry knew that McGonagall intended to use the seventh years to defend the school itself if any Death Eaters got passed the wards.

Everyone left the chamber to go to their assigned place, Harry, Hermione, and Neville would take up positions just outside the gates, Susan and Luna were to take positions on either side of the proposed route. When they were in position Harry could see what the strange creatures were, inferi. These were "walking dead" that did the bidding of the witch or wizard who created them. Inferi didn't like fire so Harry called Firebeard and asked him to deal with them, Blaze soon joined in on the fun as Bill and the goblins arrived.

Voldemort could hardly believe what he saw, someone had called a Fire Elemental – even he had second thoughts about doing that since elementals were very hard to control. Then he felt it, wards had gone up preventing apparition; he tried his portkey and nothing happened. That was when the attack really started as many rocks suddenly appeared and were hitting him and his death eaters. If a Death Eater was knocked down he disappeared within seconds, sometimes there was a loud pop and sometimes there wasn't a sound. Then the Goblins appeared behind the group of Death Eaters, all around them wizards and witches popped up out of nowhere and someone was calling out for Voldemort and his followers to surrender and lay down their wands – the battle was on!

The spell fire was impressive, both in colors and amount. Killing curses were blocked by large rocks, other spells were blocked by shields or deflected. It seemed that everyone against Voldemort had very strong shields and Death Eaters were being knocked down and mysteriously disappearing. Now there were two fire elementals on the field and they were soon joined by two elementals made of air. The earth was rolling all around Voldemort and his forces. When the Dementors arrived, three patroni - a very large bear, a large Hippogriff and a DRAGON - appeared from the front of the gates toward Hogwarts. While other, normal, patroni appeared from all sides driving the Dementors away but the Hippogriff and dragon weren't just driving the Dementors away, they were destroying them! Any Dementor caught by the bear was destroyed also.

"Tom Riddle, it would appear that you believe in that prophecy issued 15 years ago. Too bad I don't believe it. Did you ever hear the rest of it?" Harry shouted as he suddenly materialized between Voldemort and the gate where he proceed retelling the whole prophecy. "If my interpretation is correct, then either you must kill me or I must kill you – just like you killed my parents. But, I really don't like to kill. Oh, did I mention that I have found all of your soul anchors and destroyed them? Lets see there was the book Lucius Malfoy sent to the school my second year, the Gaunt family ring, the Slytherin locket, the Hufflepuff cup, the Ravenclaw diadem, and the piece of yourself you left inside me when you tried to kill me at age 15 months. That leaves only the small piece you still have inside you and once that is gone so are you" Harry continued as he walked towards Voldemort.

Voldemort fired a spell at Harry only to see it knocked aside; he tried another spell and it was blocked by a golden shield. Voldemort sent a killing curse towards Harry but it was intercepted by a large rock out of nowhere. It was then that Voldemort noticed that Harry didn't have his wand out but was walking with a staff in his left hand, nobody used a staff anymore. Two more people appeared behind Harry, one was a girl and the other was another young man – both were using a staff instead of a wand and both were starting to glow. The girl sent a disarming spell that just about knocked Voldemort off his feet, but he managed to retain his wand. The boy sent a spell towards the Death Eaters behind Voldemort and several were heard to scream out in pain.

For the first time in his memory Voldemort was in a bind, he couldn't retreat and he couldn't seem to get the best of the wizard in front of him. Then the strangest thing happened, a gong sounded and Harry started to smile. The next thing Voldemort knew there were green and silver bands wrapped around him and he could feel his magic failing. "Tom, just in case you are curious, I found a way to remove your magic and to bind your core to that just below a squib's. But unlike you I believe in a fair fight so I will put away my staff and wand and meet you in combat with swords" Harry yelled as a gleaming sword appeared in his hand and another sword appeared at Voldemort's feet.

Voldemort tried again to send a spell at Harry but nothing happened, he picked up the sword and saw it had the crest of Slytherin on it – Voldemort smiled. All around the fighting was over and everyone watched as the two faced off and prepared to fight. Voldemort swung a mighty overhead blow only to miss, next he tried a sweeping cut and was blocked with little effort. This kid was good and appeared to have been trained well. When Harry mentioned he had been trained by the goblins in sword play, Voldemort was taken back. The girl stepped forward and shouted that nobody was to interfere and placing the butt of her staff on the ground a golden dome 30 feet in diameter came into being with Harry and Voldemort in the middle.

The two had been fighting for 6 or 7 minutes when Voldemort got lucky and cut Harry's sleeve, but not his skin. Harry just glanced at the tear and smiled. Voldemort was getting tired, very tired, but Harry seemed to be in good shape and wasn't even breathing very hard. Tom Riddle noticed that he was bleeding from many cuts and this added to his fatigue. Tom tried another overhead strike and was blocked but on the down stroke of Harry's sword he was cut into two pieces starting at the left shoulder and ending at the right hip. There was silence all around, the Death Eaters who were still standing couldn't believe their eyes, a boy had defeated the most powerful wizard alive – with a sword. Harry walked up to the body and used the tail of Voldemort's robe to clean his sword, the dome came down and there was shouting from most of the aurors and surrounding onlookers.

Harry placed his sword into the scabbard and picked up the sword that Voldemort had been using and once again used Voldemort's robe to wipe it clean before handing it to Neville. "Salazar has said that he would like this sword placed in the display case for all to see, it served him well in his day. Would you mind making sure it is taken care of for me Neville?" Harry asked.

Ragnok, Sirius, Kingsley, and the commander of both the French and Italian forces each came up to verify that this was indeed the body of Tom Marvolo Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort, and that he was dead. Harry claimed the wand as a prize of battle, and to prevent anyone else from keeping it hidden again. Dobby appeared and asked what Harry wanted to do with the "bad wizards" the elves had taken, Harry said to place their wands in front of Kingsley and to bring the wizards back so they could be taken to prison. A pile of wands, each one with a white tag on it, appeared in front of Kingsley and then "sleeping" Death Eaters started to appear on the ground. It was at this time that everyone noticed all the elves, wearing the same uniform as Dobby, standing around in groups. Some of them had a different patch on their chests, the patch was the crest of House of Longbottom; but most wore the crest of House of Potter. Then elves wearing the crest of Hogwarts started to appear bringing food and drink for the aurors and students.

It was later when Harry was informed of the casualties, five aurors had been taken to the hospital wing with injuries but no deaths; 20 goblins had been treated by the goblin healers for injuries and only one had died. The Death Eaters weren't as lucky, out of over a hundred Death Eaters 30 had been killed. Amongst the dead was one Lucius Malfoy. He had been killed when he tried to attack an elf and was shoved backwards only to stop when he was impaled on the swords of three goblins. Harry asked that one of the captured Death Eaters be brought to him; placing Voldemort's wand on the "Dark Mark" and saying a silent spell, causing the Death Eater to scream, Harry sent out a summons for any other Death Eaters to come. Four Death Eaters appeared and were stunned and taken into custody.

At supper that night Headmistress McGonagall announced that Voldemort was dead and this time they had the body to prove it and several witnesses who saw his death. There was a fifth table in the great hall and at this table sat all of the aurors who had come to Hogwarts to fight, Madame duBois had provided a potion so that they all spoke and understood each other. There was only one sad face to be found in the hall, that of Draco Malfoy as he had been notified of his father's death.

It was the night of the end of school feast and that feast was interrupted by the entry of Amelia Bones, the Minister of Magic for England, and she was accompanied by Kingsley Shacklebolt, Head of the DMLE. Amelia said she had a few announcements to make to the students and asked for permission to do so. Amelia looked out over the students for a few seconds before starting her announcements.

"First, it is my pleasure to announce that some of your professors have gained their Mastery Certification. These include Headmistress Minerva McGonagall in Transfiguration, Prof. Flitwick in Charms, Prof. Vector in Arithmancy, and Prof. Sprout in Herbology. Secondly, Rubeus Hagrid is restored to his rights as a wizard and has already earned his Mastery of Magical Creatures and is to get his wand back at the Ministry's expense. Now due to the action of several students and faculty during the "Battle of Hogwarts", I have a few awards to present. To Bill, Fred, and George Weasley, and Sirius Black, the Order of Merlin, second class. To Luna Lovegood, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, and Susan Bones I award the Order of Merlin, second class with clusters. And to Lord Harry James Potter, Lady Hermione Jean Granger (Black), and Lord Neville Longbottom I am pleased to award the Order of Merlin First Class. A special award of merit and appreciation is awarded to Clan Chief Ragnok of Gringotts for the service he and his clansmen gave during the same time. A final award of merit goes to Commander Dobby of the house elves for his contribution in gathering a force of house elves to assist in the battle, would Commander Dobby please present himself" Amelia said.

Dobby popped in at the rear of the room dressed in his BDUs and "marched" up to the front of the room. Amelia knelt down and pinned the award to his chest. "Commander Dobby, this is the first time that I know of where a house elf has been awarded any kind of honor by the Ministry of Magic, and I hope this isn't the last time your people receive such honors" Amelia said as she stood. This ended Amelia's announcements.

As Dobby walked out of the hall a spell came from the Slytherin table directly at him, only to be intercepted by a golden shield cast by Harry. At the Slytherin table Draco Malfoy had a problem, two in fact, in that two wands were pressing into his neck, the wands of Daphne and Tori Greengrass. It was noted that the wands of Hermione, Neville, all of the Weasleys, and Sirius Black were all pointed at Draco. Draco's problems increased when two aurors stepped up beside him and placed magical handcuffs on him.

Once everything had settled down, and Draco had been removed to a cell in the Ministry, McGonagall announced that starting that summer there would be classes offered during the summer for those who wanted, or needed, extra help with their studies and as an orientation for the incoming first years. Classes would start the 1st of July and end July 27th. Student should arrive on June 30th and leave on the 28th of July. The classes would be held at a location away from Hogwarts as there were several renovations and upgrades scheduled during the summer vacation. The instructors would include some of the new, or incoming, instructors for the following term. Any student who wanted to attend needed to pick up an application in their common room and have it back by June 15th. The only courses that would be offered were Charms, Defense, Herbology, and Transfiguration; in addition there would be a course in magical and non-magical etiquette plus the Introduction to Magical Studies being taken by the incoming first years.

When the Hogwarts Express left the next day several students were not on the train, namely Harry, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Susan, and a certain Ravenclaw first year girl. All six students were in northern Scotland making sure the young girl got home safely and quickly, they were also going to meet with the young girl's friend who should be attending Hogwarts the following year.

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**A/N: Well that ends my version of the Hogwarts Years for Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna (Susan Bones still has a couple of years to go). I want to thank all of my readers for their comments and tell you that if I can I will continue the story in After Hogwarts, the next book in this series, when I get around to writing it. The next book will cover the summer of 1996 and the new curriculum at Hogwarts.**

**Please be kind and comment**


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